- UM Health Sparrow has released its 2023 Drug related death report, which looks at 7 different counties in our neighborhoods.
- Report shows a slight decline in all 7 counties.
- Watch video about to see how people in the community feel about it.
Daniella Pride lost her battle to drug addiction at the young age of 29.
“She died of a Fentanyl overdose in June of 2017,” Jerry Norris, Pride’s father.
Norris is still dealing with the pain of losing his daughter to an addiction he says started when she was in high school.
“She started taking Xanax, which led to Cocaine, which led to Heroin which eventually led to Fentanyl,” Norris said.
Pride took her last breath at UM Health Sparrow Lansing, the same hospital that releases an annual drug related death report.
“It brings together all of the data from the year and we present it,” said Supervisor of Forensic Pathology Michelle Fox.
Fox overseas the report, which collects data from 7 different counties. She said in 2023, all counties saw a slight decline in drug related deaths from previous years.
VIEW FULL DRUG RELATED DEATH REPORT HERE.
“Ingham county is our most populist area, so we are going to see more deaths than other areas,” Fox said.
In 2023, Ingham county saw 131 drug related deaths, compared to the 137 in 2022.
But while the number is down, deaths related to Cocaine and Fentanyl continue to be high. Last year, the county saw 96 Fentanyl deaths and 64 Cocaine deaths.
In the past, many have depended on Narcan to battle the drug addiction crisis.
“Narcan is not a preventable measure, its a reaction to failure,” Norris said.
Norris, who does a lot of harm reduction work in the community, said more needs to be done.
“We have to do more preventable work where we’re getting involved in these peoples life sooner, as they're going through addiction and just support them,” he said.
