Cook County data shows broad scope of opioid crisis across generations
This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.
Oh, these kids today. They just don't listen.
Oops. Maybe we'd best re-examine some of our generational biases.
Case in point: The latest statistics out of Cook County and other collar counties on opioid overdose deaths. It comes as no surprise that fentanyl was involved in the overwhelming majority of Cook County's record opioid fatalities last year - 91%, according to a medical examiner's report released this week. But it is also instructive to notice who is dying.
People under 30 years old accounted for less than 13% of the deaths, according to the medical examiner. It was the age group with the smallest proportion of the overall total number of deaths The age group with the highest proportion? People 50 to 59 years old (27%) and, in fact, nearly half of all deaths (48%) involved people over 50 years old.
So, while we may have this stereotype of young thrill-seekers at the core of the fentanyl crisis, the data, out of Cook County at least, suggests a very different picture, one in which the opioid crisis is spread across all generations. An opioid-related death is no less tragic for an individual of any age, of course, but these numbers emphasize the broad scope of the crisis we face.
And it's a crisis playing out in the collar counties, too. As our Chuck Keeshan described in a story we published Wednesday, each of DuPage, Kane and Lake counties are reporting steady increases in opioid deaths, with only McHenry showing a slight decline last year.
We, along with other news sources and the medical community at large, have been raising alarms about opioid use for more than two decades. And while the introduction of fentanyl into the equation is comparatively recent - dating primarily to around 2014, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency - it is nevertheless frustrating to find the problem growing rather than receding as people gain more information and follow the grim statistics.
The proliferation of fentanyl is a favorite topic of critics of U.S. immigration policy, and surely more needs to be done to stem the flow of the chemical from Mexico - just as more needs to be done to control its production in China and India, which the DEA cites among the dominant areas where the drug originates. But more also needs to be done to understand and protect users at the local level.
As Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Schaumburg Democrat, wrote in a July 11 guest column for the Daily Herald, solving this problem will require efforts across the broad spectrum of local, state, national and international activities.
"Choking off the supply and cutting demand for fentanyl must be at the top of the federal government's to-do list," Krishnamoorthi wrote.
It's an important observation, and one made even more clear when we realize that the opioid crisis isn't just a matter affecting one generation or segment of society. The numbers show that all of us, whatever our age, need to be listening better.