While fentanyl deaths are decreasing, more pills are being captured than ever before

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - More than 77,000 people in the United States have died from fentanyl from April 2022 to April 2023.

This span of time has seen the most people die from fentanyl than ever before.

This is all according to new data in from the CDC.

So, how much of a problem is fentanyl for our local communities?

According to officials, Idaho and our local communities aren't seeing nearly as many fatalities as other areas.

The Bonneville County Sheriff's Office said they have only had four fetanyl deaths so far this year, which would be the lowest it's been in three years.

Yet, there are other concerning factors that the sheriff's office has.

"The amount of pills of fentanyl pills that have been seized is, you know, more than 100,000 pills this year, which is so far, you know, ten times more than last year. And last year was bigger than the year before," Bonneville County spokesman Sgt. Bryan Lovell said. "That problem that we're seeing, the fentanyl problem and the dangerousness of it, it's still in our area."

Despite fentanyl overdoses and deaths decreasing by more than 50% within Bonneville County, more pills continue to be imported into east Idaho.

Fentanyl is becoming more and more of an addiction, yet there is a lot more help out there to prevent overdoses from becoming deaths.

"A higher availability of narcan and naloxone that's available. And of course, like I mentioned, education of how dangerous it is and recommendation that everybody should have access to that.  That's probably contributing to a little bit of that downtrend," Lovell said.

For more long-term emotional help, several counselors have been on standby.

"Helping clients learn different coping skills to deal with life stressors and to deal with big emotions or trauma. Helping people work through those past issues really does help them overcome the addiction," RHS Addiction and Trauma Recovery Services counselor Tiffany Hayner said.

Hayner continues to receive more and more clients this year who are trying to recover from overdoses compared to years prior.

Since then, she has prepped up what she calls an overdose kit.

It contains narcan and additional resources for these addicts to get all the help they need.

"I have had clients come to me that have been in treatment and have used and said the kit you gave me saved my life. It was used on me," Hayner said. "And so that's always rewarding to know that I provided them with the lifesaving measures."

The last thing in that overdose kit was a booklet on how to learn CPR. It's the tool that allows any ordinary individual to save a life.