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TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Overdose death rates in Arizona are now nearly twice the national average, according to new data from the CDC.
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Arizona is the only state in the country where drug deaths are higher than the peak seen shortly after the pandemic.
Two factors driving numbers
According to the Pima County Health Department, there are two factors driving Arizona’s high numbers.
One is the state’s proximity to the border, which increases the accessibility and decreases the cost of drugs like fentanyl and meth — the two drugs responsible for 80% of Pima County’s drug deaths.
The second factor is the state’s climate, which can be deadly, especially on extreme heat days.
As drug overdose deaths drop across the country, an alarming trend is taking shape in Arizona, according to the report.
“We’re like in the epicenter of the worst of it,” said Tom Langdon Hill, training director for the Certified Community Health Specialists’ Foundation.
Overdose rates are climbing across the state and, after a week of record temperatures, may only get worse.
“Right now, today, people are going to die because it’s hotter yet again,” Hill said.
Heat and overdose deaths linked
Of the 36 heat-contributed deaths in Pima County this year, nearly half were caused by overdose. There is a direct correlation between triple-digit temperatures and drug deaths, according to Mark Person with the Pima County Health Department.
“Every single year for the last five years at least, as soon as June, July, and August hit, the number of our overdose deaths go up by about, you know, 7 to 8%,” said Mark Person, public program manager for the Pima County Health Department.
Person said extreme heat can put stress on the cardiovascular system, changing heart rate, breathing, and how much a person sweats. When drugs are introduced, they can amplify the effects of heat exhaustion and reduce what Person calls a person’s heat perception.
“A person may prolong the amount of time they’re out here without really realizing they’re overheating and they’re not paying attention to the signs their body is giving them,” Person said.
Impact on homeless
Hill said those symptoms can be even worse for people experiencing homelessness.
“The concrete can be nearly 150 degrees, and that’s what they’re cuddling up next to, that’s what they’re at, so their body temperature rises dangerously, and if you add drugs to that?” Hill said.
Hill said the CCHS Foundation has helped 700 people reverse an overdose in the last year and expects that number to keep rising.
Hill said more shelters are needed to keep people out of the heat, in hopes of reducing the number of Arizonans included in that statistic.
“If we are tired of people dying, and I hope people are very tired of people dying, we need to fund those,” Hill said.
Person told 13 News it takes time to verify drug deaths, so the scope of overdoses in relation to heat will not be known until long after summer is over.
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