WBBJ TV
January 25, 2021
In 2020, first responders received reports of 160 overdoses in Jackson. Eighteen of those people died.
“I would say 98% of those are opiate-related,” Jackson Police Department Maj. Phillip Kemper said. “Heroin, fentanyl, pills like hydrocodone or oxycodone, percocet, those opiate-based pills.”
This isn’t a new concern. Kemper says while 2020 had the highest report of overdoses yet, the rates had been getting worse for a while.
“Before five years ago, most overdoses were pill-related, suicidal-related, and with heroin and fentanyl and opioids that have really come into our area in the past five years, we’ve seen a steady increase in overdoses,” Kemper said.