Which Counties are Being Hit the Hardest by the Heroin Scourge?

Like many states across the country, Illinois is experiencing an unsettling surge in drug overdose deaths, in large part because of the growing heroin and opioid epidemic.

Between 2013 and 2014, the number of Illinoisans who died of an overdose increased 8.3 percent from 1,579 to 1,705, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Illinois was one of 14 states that had a statistically significant increase in the rate of drug overdose deaths.

During that same time period, the age-adjusted rate rose from 12.1 to 13.1 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in Illinois.

In 2014, about 42 percent (711) of the total drug overdose deaths in Illinois were heroin-related, compared to 37 percent (583) in 2013, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

As of Feb. 2, 2016, the date for which most recent data is available, there were 692 overdose deaths involving heroin in 2015, though this number is provisional and likely underrepresented as some death investigations are ongoing and causes of death have yet to be determined.

Previously released provisional data on Jan. 5 had the death toll at 618, meaning an additional 74 fatal heroin overdoses were reported to the state’s public health department in less than a month.

Here are the counties that had the most heroin-related overdose deaths in 2014 and how 2015 compares so far, according to IDPH.