A new report from the Metro Public Health Department confirms that 2021 was the deadliest year on record when it comes to drug deaths in the city. The department reports 712 suspected drug deaths in Nashville last year, a 15 percent increase compared to the previously record-setting 2020. The overwhelming majority of those deaths involved the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl.
The data is found in the Quarterly Drug Overdose Surveillance Update for the fourth quarter of 2021, which was released last week. It shows that the majority of people who have died are males, and that 28 percent of them — the largest group among them — were 35 to 44 years old.
In November, the Scene covered the epidemic of drug deaths driven by fentanyl, which has been largely overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. Officials with the Metro Overdose Response Program are working to track and respond to the crisis. At the time, representatives of the department said EMS responds to around 20 suspected overdose calls a day, and the city is averaging about two drug deaths every day.
One way Metro and other organizations are trying to stem the tide is by getting Narcan — a medicine that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose — out into the community. The nonprofit Street Works tells the Scene that its staff gives out about 400 boxes — which contain two doses apiece — of Narcan every month.
