This Death Statistic Is Up 4%. In Idaho, It’s Up 24%, But Why?

It's one of the few things you can truly depend on: People live, and people die. It's the circle of life. However, for many Idahoans, that circle is ending much sooner than expected, and it's happening to more and more people.

October is National Substance Abuse Prevention Month, and sadly, drug overdose deaths are up nationwide. Up 4% in just the past year.

That's a staggering number, until you compare it to Idaho's. In the past year, deaths via overdose in Idaho were up 24%. A grim calculation, to be sure.

Brianna Bodily, from the South Central Public Health District, explains that opioid overdoses account for much of that 24%:

The problem with opioid addiction is, as I mentioned before, it is one of those drugs that can affect any person in stage of their life in any area, and because it can start with a prescription drug addiction, or a synthetic drug that someone might of bought off the street, you have individual that you might not think are drug addicts.

There were 240 deaths in Idaho in 2021 attributed to opioids.