Although drug overdose deaths involving the potent synthetic opioid pain reliever fentanyl continue to increase in El Paso County, the six-year rate of rise seems to at least be flattening, according to the 2023 coroner’s report released Tuesday.

“This is two years in a row that we’ve seen relatively mild increases in our total fentanyl cases versus the previous five years where we saw a doubling year over year,” said El Paso County Coroner and Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Leon Kelly.

“That continues to be good news from the perspective that before we can turn it around, we really need to stop the increase,” he said. “It looks like that’s where we are.”

That’s tempered with this highlight from the annual summary of autopsied deaths in the state’s busiest coroner’s office: For the first time in El Paso County’s history, fentanyl has surpassed methamphetamine and is now the most commonly drug identified as a cause of death.

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Of the county’s 212 accidental overdose fatalities last year, 122 involved fentanyl.

In contrast, of 2019’s 130 accidental drug-related deaths, fentanyl played a part in just 21 cases, according to data.

“The negative is this is the most fentanyl deaths we’ve ever had,” Kelly said of 2023’s tabulation.

And 94% of the time in local drug overdoses, the victim is dead before emergency medical technicians, police or firefighters arrive on the scene, the report shows.

That means more community intervention is needed to help prevent accidental overdoses, Kelly said.

In addition to administering Narcan, a nasal antidote that’s readily available, people should learn how to use it and look for initial signs of overdose to call for emergency assistance sooner, he said.

Overall, El Paso County fared well last year in terms of the numbers of unexpected, unnatural and traumatic deaths in the categories of homicides, accidents, auto crashes, suicides and all drug overdoses, Kelly noted.

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“It’s the first annual report where nearly every one of the big ones has gone down,” he said. “I rarely ever get to deliver positive news about what’s going on, so this is a generational opportunity for me to say the bad things are getting better.”

• Homicides were down by what Kelly calls “a remarkable” 36% in 2023 over 2022 to 50 in total, mirroring a nationwide trend. He attributes the local decrease to declines in nearly every injury category, including firearms. Homicides most frequently occurred in relation to an escalating altercation or domestic or family violence.

“We’ve seen nationally dramatic falls over the last couple of years after reaching significant highs during the pandemic era,” he said.

• Motor vehicle fatalities decreased by 19% to 62 deaths, following a pattern similar to homicides.

“After decades of steady decreases in motor vehicle fatalities because of better cars, better enforcement and cultural shifts in drinking and driving, we saw increases in the pandemic era, which are reversing,” Kelly said.

• Drug-related deaths constituted more than half of the accidental deaths last year, with overdoses reflecting a 2% decrease over 2022. Newly emerging drugs that are being found in deceased bodies are Nitazene, Bromazolam and Xylazine.

• Worth mentioning, Kelly said, is that deaths from “the oldest and most-abused drug on earth” — alcohol — continue to rise in the “natural diseases” category. It’s the second-leading killer next to cardiovascular deaths, with 84 chronic alcohol deaths last year.

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“Alcohol like any other drug is something people often use to deal with their own mental health and struggles,” Kelly said. “I don’t think anyone would deny that we have certainly struggled as a society, and too many of us are turning to alcohol to deal with that.”

• Also on the uptick is that 26% of deaths analyzed last year show marijuana metabolites present at the time of autopsy. That’s up from 23% in 2022 and 24% in 2020.

• Deaths by suicide among all ages decreased 2% last year to 189, down from 194 in 2022.

“We saw a decrease against a backdrop of an increasing population, so the fact that we’ve gone down even slightly is certainly encouraging,” Kelly said.

Suicide deaths of children under age 18, however, increased from four in 2022 and 2021 to 10 in 2023.

“I don’t perceive that as a dramatic shift or trend,” Kelly said. “It’s something we’ll continue to watch and serves as a constant reminder that despite what the numbers show in any given year, our prevention efforts should be persistent.”

• After recording a 55% increase in deaths of homeless people in 2022, largely due to more homicides and fentanyl poisoning, deaths decreased by 6% in 2023 to 114.

Drug intoxication, most prevalently fentanyl, was attributed to 49 of last year’s fatalities in the homeless population; another 11 people passed away from hypothermia. That’s a slight bump from nine in 2022. Homicides among the population dropped from 11 in 2022 to four last year.

With more half of 2024 over, trends identified in 2023 seem to be continuing, the coroner said.

“Our overall caseload through the first half of the year is down over last year, which was down over the year before,” Kelly said. “Standard cases of homicides and suicides and overall drug deaths appear to be trending in the right direction, which would be continuing positive trends for the big death categories we track to measure the well-being of our community.”

In total, Kelly’s office, an elected position, serves 19 southern Colorado counties in addition to El Paso, investigated 6,036 cases in 2023 and performed 1,563 autopsies, 993 of which were conducted for El Paso County.

Also, Fremont County had an abnormally high number of 250 autopsies, driven by a mass recovery of human remains at the Return to Nature funeral home.

Contact the writer: 719-476-1656.