Fentanyl in Missouri: The China Connection

Missouri Medicine, the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, reports in its July/August 2020 issue, that illicitly manufactured fentanyl and related synthetic opioids arriving from China are primarily responsible for fatal narcotic overdoses in Missouri.
Despite the COVID-19 disruption of fentanyl manufacturing and distribution centers in and around Wuhan, China, early in the pandemic, preliminary 2020 data from medical examiners’ offices show a recent upswing in opioid deaths, an indicator that Chinese fentanyl producers have restored the supply chain.
Authors William V. Stoecker, MD, K. Taylor Bosworth, and Fred Rottnek, MD, write in their article that the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office reports preliminary opioid-related deaths for the first five months in 2020 were up 17% from the year before (112 deaths in 2019 and 131 in 2020).
St. Louis City has the highest opioid death rate in the state, followed by Jefferson and Franklin Counties, which belong to the urban fringe areas that demonstrate the highest opioid mortality rates nationally.
Boone and Callaway counties have had nine and three cases, respectively, of known opioid deaths for the first half of 2020, per preliminary data, with a further 34 and 11 cases pending final assignment of cause of death. Boone and Callaway are on track to outpace the 2014-2018 annual averages of 13 and four opioid fatalities, respectively.
Jackson County, which includes Kansas City, has a lower opioid death rate than some rural areas, much lower than found in St. Louis.
View entire article here: https://www.omagdigital.com/publication/?m=11307&i=669526&p= 72.
For interviews, email Dr. Stoecker at wvs@mst.edu.