Deaths By Opioid Drugs Overdose To Reach New Peak in Cook County in Illinois

Reports say the county of Cook in Chicago, Illinois is currently on track to reach a new peak in the recorded number of deaths by opioid drugs overdose this year. Furthermore, the county is also reportedly taking into consideration how to spend some of the more than $10.5 million worth of multi-state legal settlement received from pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors for their role in the opioid drugs overdose crisis.

According to Guthmann, in the next 18 years, the city of Chicago is expected to receive $78 million from the state of Illinois’ share in the opioid drugs overdose settlement with a total of $760 million. Nonetheless, Haymarket Center drug treatment facility president and CEO Dan Lustig claimed that even with the settlement, there are still not enough funds to treat opioid drugs overdose as a health condition.

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Deaths By Opioid Drugs Overdose

According to Schutz, Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HITDA) executive director Nick Roti states that the rise in the number of deaths by opioid drugs overdose is mainly due to the increase of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Fortunately, the HITDA program assists federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in reducing the production and trafficking of drugs.

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