A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that drug-related deaths across most of the country are on the decline.

The study focuses on data compiled between June 2023 and June 2024.

Nevada is one of five states, including Washington, Oregon, Utah and Alaska shaded in orange, meaning that drug-related deaths actually increased during that specific time period.

Marcy Blinn works with Sierra Health and Wellness Centers, a group dedicated to helping community members on their road to recovery.

Blinn says personal trauma is a factor that could be driving the trend.

“Trauma is the number one drug. Not? And so when we look at how we process trauma and how we look at trauma today… my trauma will look different than yours. But that doesn’t mean yours doesn’t affect you in the same way.”

According to the Washoe County Regional Office of the Medical Examiner, at the beginning of 2024, the county reported only 76 drug-related deaths, of which 32 deaths were related to the drug “Fentanyl”.

In the second quarter of 2024, which begins around April, the county reported 93 drug-related deaths, with 52 deaths related to “Fentanyl.”

Blinn says some of the increase could also be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re all in that post-Covid trauma. And so people are back there, and the market is flooded with all kinds of fake fentanyl … things that people think is Xanax or even Heroin … when really, it’s fentanyl.”

The Medical Examiner’s Office has yet to release data from the third and fourth quarters of the year, but Blinn says there’s always a way to help, and that starts with “Narcan” education.

Narcan is a fast-acting drug to reverse an opioid overdose.

“Really, the best thing would be to go to one of those very short overdose awareness or Narcan training classes.”