A total of 1,172 people died from overdoses in Maryland during the first six months of this year. A third of them were in Baltimore, and nearly seven in 10 involved heroin’s more potent cousin, fentanyl.
The Maryland Department of Health’s newest figures, updated through two quarters of 2017, indicate growth in heroin-related overdose deaths (586) is actually almost flat compared to the first half of 2016 (579). Fentanyl-related deaths, meanwhile, jumped from 469 in the first half of 2016 to an astounding 799 through June of this year.
Another drug new on the scene called carfentanil – a tranquilizer intended for large animals, said to be 100 times strong than fentanyl – was tied to 46 deaths across the state. Some will recall the news of three deaths caused by carfentanil this spring, two of them in Anne Arundel County.
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