By Jenna Dooley 
WNIJ News

Winnebago County Coroner Bill Hintz is growing increasingly worried about the breakdown of drug-related overdose deaths.

According to Hintz, 124 deaths were attributed to drug overdose last year compared with 96 in 2016.

Of those, he says there was a noticeable increase in deaths involving fentanyl with seven in 2016 and 63 in 2017. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which the Drug Enforcement Administration says is 50 times more potent than heroin.

“I don’t believe that these people realize how dangerous they are,” Hintz said. “I don’t think that they realize what is being mixed into the drug that they are buying.”

He says the number of fentanyl-related deaths began to jump starting in July through the end of the year.

The office reported more than 40 different drugs that factored into drug overdose deaths. A pair of deaths were associated with carfentanil, which also is a synthetic opioid, but even more potent than fentanyl.

Distribution of the 40+ drugs found in the blood of overdose victims in Winnebago County in 2017. WNIJ

Also alarming, Hintz says, is the combination of drugs being reported. He says it’s becoming more common to see three or four different drugs in the system at the time of death.

Additionally, he cautions against using opioid-reversal drugs, like Narcan, as a “fail-safe” measure to prevent overdose deaths.

“You give the Narcan and you bring the person around, and you are like ‘Okay, everything’s good and no problems,’” Hintz said. “But when that Narcan wears off and you still have enough of that drug in your system, you can definitely overdose again.”

Hintz projects drug deaths will continue to increase in 2018.