Drug-related deaths in Florida saw a 10% increase in 2021 from the previous year, according to a new report released by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) on Monday.
The report stated that of the 36,523 deaths investigated by medical examiners, toxicology results determined that drugs were present at the time of death in 16,138 of those cases. Drugs present included amphetamines, hallucinogenics, opioids and more.
There were over 8,400 opioid-related deaths reported, identified as either the cause of death or present during its time, which was a 7% increase from 2020.
Fentanyl saw big numbers, with occurrences of the drug up by 10.5% and directly related deaths up by 9%. The drug has been on an upwards trend since 2019, when only 3,244 deaths were reported, compared to 2021's 5,791.
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The highest amount of cases of fentanyl was found in St. Petersburg, with 624 directly related deaths.
While most drugs saw an increase in both occurrence and deaths, heroin saw a decrease in both, with occurrences dropping by 45% and deaths by 48%.
Drugs that were most commonly found while examining deaths included, ethyl alcohol (6,511), fentanyl (6,417) and benzodiazepines (4,195). But drugs that directly caused the most deaths were fentanyl (5,791), cocaine (2,677) and methamphetamine (2,101).
