By Matthew Holloway |
In a Monday morning press conference, the Common Sense Institute Arizona (CSI) announced the release of its comprehensive report on “Arizona’s Ongoing Fentanyl Crisis,” for 2024. The prognosis for the state of Arizona is grim with the report detailing the rapidly mounting cost of the fentanyl epidemic in economic terms. From 2015 to 2019 Arizona’s Department of Health Services reported opioid-related encounters in Arizona hospitals skyrocketed from 41,400 to 56,600, an increase of 37%. And the economic cost has leapt to a staggering $58 billion. The US Drug Enforcement Agency has also reported the total seizures of fentanyl in the nation jumped from 6,800 pounds in 2019 to 29,200 in 2024 or by about 320%.
In other key findings published by the Institute, the study found that nationally, the opioid epidemic cost the American people as a whole almost $1 trillion in 2017, with $22 billion of that falling on Arizona alone, and the situation has only become worse in the intervening seven years. Despite the incidence of opioid-related fatal overdoses seeming to peak, they’ve really more plateaued, holding steady at a near all-time high with declines that “have been modest,” and the institute warns “it is premature to assume success in dealing with this crisis.”
Turning to the medically focused economic impact of the crisis the institute cited CDC modeling of economic costs associated with use-disorder and fatal overdose with the Arizona Department of Health Services reporting over 56,600 opioid hospital encounters at a total cost to the state system of $676 million working out to about $12,000 per medical encounter.
Touching tangentially on the Biden administration’s border policies, the report also noted that “border states have begun to experiment with enforcement of border security – a role traditionally filled by federal authorities,” and observed that Texas has allocated over $5 billion toward the border while Arizona’s expenditure peaked in 2022 under Republican then-Governor Doug Ducey at $560 million.
The institute wrote, “Considering these figures through 2023 and based on state-reported changes in the rate of opioid use and overdose, inflation, and other cost changes, CSI estimates that the cost of the opioid epidemic in Arizona reached an all-time high last year – a staggering $58 billion. This is more than double the $22.5 billion estimated by the CDC in 2017 when then-Gov. Doug Ducey declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. The surge appears almost entirely attributable to the rise in fentanyl abuse since then, the source of which appears to be Arizona’s porous southern border.”
Glenn Farley, Director of Policy and Research said in a press release sent to AZ Free News, “The fentanyl crisis is not just a public health issue, it’s also a significant economic and social challenge that affects all Arizonans. The $58 billion cost to our economy is staggering and our report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the crisis to better inform policymakers and the public on what we are truly dealing with.”
With the increase in border security expenses and the medical fallout being accounted for, the obvious final element is the most prevalent in lower income neighborhoods as well: crime. Fentanyl addiction of course brings medical crisis and death, but first it often brings a rapid downward spiral into crime, misery, family dissolution, homelessness and violence that has touched nearly every family in Arizona and the nation writ large.
The institute explains, “In 2017, then-Gov. Ducey declared opioid misuse a statewide public health emergency. At the time there were 950 fatal opioid overdoses occurring annually. Today, the number is nearly 2,000 fatal overdoses every year. Crime, too, is on the rise – in Arizona and nationally. Since 2014 the violent crime rate in Phoenix has risen 38%. According to estimates, 25%-50% of all violent crimes are drug-related. Homelessness, too, is on the rise – and despite massive investment, resources are mostly targeted towards housing and shelter, even as homelessness is highly correlated with drug abuse and dependence. Police resources in Arizona have failed to keep pace with the rising demands created by the border, drug, and homelessness crises.”
The report concludes with a chilling reminder that the cost of the opioid epidemic in Arizona is still rising, citing “inflation, widespread availability of the drug at very-low street prices, and continued high incidence of opioid use disorder among Arizonans combined.” As an analysis, the report is thorough and comprehensive in all but one respect which an academic finding cannot possibly satisfy and CSI rightly doesn’t attempt: the crushing, devastating, and brutal human cost that only someone who has lost a loved one to this plague can truly understand.
The study does however, conclude on an appropriately cautionary note: “The battle with fentanyl – in Arizona and nationally – is far from over.”
Matthew Holloway is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
