Fentanyl cited as reason ‘people are dying every single day’ – Boston Herald

Joanne Peterson didn’t need the federal government to tell her that fentanyl is now more deadly than heroin.

“It’s been the deadliest drug for a long time,” said Joanne, who runs Taunton-based Learn to Cope, a statewide support network for families grappling with a loved one’s drug addiction.

“Almost every coroner report that comes back is usually 100 percent fentanyl or prescription drugs,” Joanne told me. “We don’t really hear about heroin anymore. We hear about fentanyl or prescription drugs.”

A staggering 18,335 people died from fentanyl overdoses in 2016, accounting for 28.8 percent of all drug overdose deaths, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Heroin overdoses killed nearly 16,000 people that same year, followed by cocaine overdoses, which killed more than 11,300 people. Fatal fentanyl overdoses have skyrocketed since 2011, when 1,662 people died from the potent painkiller.

“What we hear is you can’t even buy heroin anymore. It’s just fentanyl out on the streets,” said Joanne. “People are dying every single day, they have been for years, more so from fentanyl than ever.”

Every week, new people are showing up at Learn to Cope meetings. They meet at hospitals and community centers, with up to 80 people in attendance.

The organization deals with many tragic losses. Joanne’s niece died of an overdose last summer. Some parents have lost two children to the drug scourge, Joanne tells me, a cruel fate that has become increasingly common.

“No one can say ‘not my kid’ anymore,” Joanne said. “It doesn’t discriminate.”

Now, Joanne is “extremely” fearful for what lies ahead with the recent FDA approval of Dsuvia, an opioid that’s even more potent than fentanyl.

“We can’t keep people alive,” she said. “People need to come out of their shells and really learn about this, especially people that have kids in middle school and high school. Start getting educated now because this stuff is just everywhere.”