A new study reports a 46 percent increase in fentanyl-related overdose deaths from 2014 to 2016 in Rhode Island. The study was authored by researchers at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be 100 times stronger than morphine. It’s become a growing concern in Rhode Island’s opioid epidemic, as fentanyl is appearing in heroin and cocaine.
A total of 778 fentanyl-related overdose deaths were reported in the span of the two years. In 2014 there were 84 reported deaths. In 2015 that number jumped to 138 deaths. The study also found that one in four people who died in a fentanyl case were 18 to 29 years old.
Brandon Marshall, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Brown University who helped author the study, said it is unclear whether the deaths are a result of drugs being cut with the potent opioid or a case of accidentally combining the drugs.
