Washington public health officials are raising the alarm to a spike in overdose deaths in 2020, with deaths involving fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine — doubling compared to 2019.
Washington Department of Health data shows that there were 835 overdose deaths in the state in the first six months of 2020, up a staggering 38% from 2019.
While many of the fatalities involved multiple substances, 309 were caused by fentanyl.
According to the University of Washington, fentanyl overtook methamphetamine as the drug involved in the most overdoses in Washington in 2020. A dose as small of two milligrams are enough to
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