Overdoses likely to surpass last year's total in Sangamon County

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Overdose deaths continue to rise year over year in central Illinois.

"I don't know what the answer is right now," said an exasperated Jim Allmon, the Sangamon County Coroner.

This year, fentanyl test strips and Narcan have become even more readily available in the hopes of stopping some of the overdoses, but death totals are still likely to top last year's number.

"Our numbers are going in the wrong direction," Allmon said. "We've had 62 documented accidental overdoses already this year. We have 13 probable overdoses that are pending toxicology reports and we've still got another 30 days left of this year."

Allmon estimates that 80% of accidental overdoses in Sangamon County this year involve fentanyl.

"You never know. It's a roll of the dice," said Joan Stevens-Thome of the Sangamon County Health Department. "If you understand how much is in our drug supply and why it's there, it's never going to go away. It will always be there."

The Sangamon County Health Department offers free fentanyl test strips and Narcan to everyone.

In Macon County, there are boxes filled with Narcan in the Heritage Behavioral Health Center and the Decatur Police Department.

When asked what he would tell his kids to persuade them from trying drugs that could be laced with Fentanyl, Allmon said, "I would tell them that the days of experimenting are over. That you can't do that anymore. This stuff kills people the first time they use it."