For the first time since 2018, U.S. overdose deaths decreased in 2023, according to provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics released in May. Overdoses involving opioids, fueled primarily by fentanyl, decreased from an estimated 84,181 in 2022 to 81,083 in 2023.
However, in Amarillo, the presence of fentanyl in the city has been on the rise for the last two years, with overdose investigations doubling in 2023. According to Cenikor Amarillo, a local rehab facility, people who list their drug of choice as opioids more than doubled in 2023, with 202 self-reporting opioid use, up from 82 in 2021. Since 2020, they have served 560 patients in Amarillo for opioid use, and they hail from every demographic. 56% are male, and 43% are female. They range in age from 20 to 79, 44% of users are between the ages of 30 to 39.
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