Overdose deaths during 2022 in Sangamon County could exceed the total from 2021, which marked a five-year high.
Coroner Jim Allmon says after logging 60 accidental overdose deaths in 2021, there are 57 confirmed cases in 2022. But toxicology results are pending in a dozen other cases, which could push the 2022 total even higher than the previous year.
Of the 57 confirmed overdose deaths, 48 of them involved fentanyl. The powerful opioid is usually found mixed with other drugs, but Allmon says fentanyl alone was detected in nine fatal overdoses last year.
