NYC OVERDOSE DEATHS

A fatal overdose occurs every 3 hours in NYC

graphic illustration of the overdose death toll by each NYC bourough. Staten Island 141, Brooklyn 651, Manhattan 629, Bronx 829, Queens 418

Source: New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2021

TRAGICALLY, FATAL DRUG OVERDOSES ARE AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH IN NEW YORK CITY

over

2,650
deaths

per year

approximately

8
deaths

per day

COVID-19 and the Opioid Epidemic

More people are dying of drug overdose in New York City than ever before. In 2021, drug poisonings claimed 2,688 lives in the city. Preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests 2022 was even worse. More than 3,000 deaths due to drug overdose are estimated to have occurred New York City during the 12 months ending in August of 2022. COVID-19 both overshadowed and exacerbated the opioid crisis. Fatal overdose rates shot up at least 80% since 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Both the pandemic and the opioid epidemic have disproportionately impacted Black New Yorkers. Neighborhoods in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan rank among those most affected.

Noble Heroin Mill Pics March 2014 pile of heroiin tabs

Fentanyl continues to flood the drug market in New York City. Roughly 80% of overdose deaths in the city involve fentanyl, while deaths linked to heroin have begun to decline. Fentanyl is mixed with heroin, cocaine and an array of synthetic drugs. It is packaged into individual dose glassine envelopes or pressed into pills. Because fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, yet much cheaper to produce, it yields substantial profits for drug cartels in Mexico. Users are often unaware that the drugs they are purchasing contains fentanyl. Mixtures containing other potentially lethal substances, such as xylazine, a non-opioid veterinary sedative, are of great concern. Overdose reversal drugs are not as effective against xylazine.

SNP investigates high-level fentanyl distribution networks in New York City and the surrounding area, and tracks the latest trends in trafficking. Increasingly, drug cartels are pressing fentanyl into tablet form prior to smuggling it into the U.S. The most prevalent type of fentanyl pills available on the streets are counterfeit prescription medication made to look like 30 mg oxycodone. These pills are blue in color and stamped with the marking M-30. More recently, multicolored fentanyl pills are appearing in large-scale drug shipments that originate in Mexico. SNP investigations, in partnership with DEA, the NYPD and the New York State Police, have resulted in substantial seizures of these multicolored pills, sometimes called “rainbow fentanyl.” Investigations have uncovered pills concealed in unusual containers, such as boxes of diapers and LEGO toys.

THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC CAME IN THREE WAVES.

Overprescribing of prescription opioids

False advertising by pharmaceutical companies and overprescribing by doctors fueled a crisis of addiction to opioid painkillers nationwide beginning in the 1990s. Drug rings developed methods of obtaining fraudulent prescriptions. Unscrupulous medical practitioners got rich selling prescriptions for opioids in exchange for cash while overdose deaths climbed. Read More

Heroin production ramps up

New York City serves as a major hub of heroin trafficking for the Northeast. Local distribution networks coordinate with drug cartels in Mexico to transport multi-million-dollar shipments of heroin to the area. The cartels seized upon the crisis of opioid painkiller addiction in the U.S. as an opportunity to ramp up production of heroin, creating a multi-billion-dollar industry and further escalating overdose deaths beginning in approximately 2010.

Influx of synthetic opioids

50X stronger than Heroin

A highly potent synthetic opioid, illicitly produced fentanyl is approximately 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is sold interchangeably with heroin, mixed with other drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine, and pressed into counterfeit pills.

blue spiral notebook icon with title of grand jury of the supreme court state of new york first judicial district criminal procedural law report

Fentanyl has flooded the black market for narcotics since 2015, causing drug deaths to skyrocket.

Fentanyl is present in more than three-quarters of all overdose deaths in NYC. Because it is cheaper to produce than heroin, fentanyl boosts profits for drug cartels in Mexico. Multi-kilogram shipments follow the same overland transportation routes as heroin, travelling across the Southwest border with Mexico in vehicles.