Prescription numbers for patients are dropping, but statistics for drug poisonings, deaths and seizures continue to rise in Fort Wayne.
Captain Kevin Hunter of the Fort Wayne Police Department updated the Allen County Health Board on recent drug trends in and around the city Monday night.
As of Sept. 30, 801 drug overdose cases have been reported with 56 deaths and 32 more awaiting toxicology reports. With three months left in the year, the city is likely to surpass its total number of overdoses from 2016 (804), but may not meet last year’s total of 1,200.
Heroin seizures have doubled, increasing from 711 grams in all of 2017 to 1.5 kilograms so far this year. Meth also remains a rapidly growing concern, with 500 more grams seized in 2018 than all of last year. He says access to meth has become much easier.
“About a year ago we were paying $1,200 per ounce for crystal meth, and now we’re seeing it around $500, $600 an ounce, and that is a significant drop in price,” Hunter said.
Surprisingly, cocaine numbers have skyrocketed; while powder numbers are down, crack has been increasingly prevalent, with nearly 200 more grams seized in 2018’s first nine months than all of 2017.
“Cocaine has kind of been dormant for a long while, but what we understand is that the country of Columbia has really produced quite a bit of coca over the last year or so, and we’re just seeing a huge influx of that right now.”
Hunter says one positive number, outside of a decrease in prescriptions, is an apparent decrease in fentanyl: 1,504 grams of the lethal additive were seized in 2017, with 760 grams collected so far in 2018.
