STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — In what District Attorney Michael E. McMahon calls the “crisis of our lifetimes,” drug overdoses claimed the lives of people on Staten Island and throughout New York City at alarming rates in 2023.
Authorities say that the opioid fentanyl — often in combination with other substances such as cocaine and alcohol — is linked to over 80% of the more than 3,000 overdoses each year citywide, and xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, is emerging as “corrosive” killer.
While residents of the Bronx had the highest rate of overdose death in 2022, about 74 people per 100,000 residents, Staten Island had the second highest rate at 38 per 100,000, according to statistics from the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Authorities have identified 145 deaths from suspected accidental-drug poisonings on our borough through Dec. 10, 2023, based on preliminary data from the Overdose Response Initiative. The disturbing statistic means that Staten Island is on pace for 153 fatal overdoses in 2023.
According to the city Health Department, 158 people lost their lives to drug overdoses on our Island in 2022.
So far this year, the Overdose Response Initiative has identified 133 instances where people were rescued after overdosing. However, the actual number of saves is likely much higher because not all recoveries are reported to law enforcement or health professionals.
“This data should stop every Staten Islander in their tracks,” McMahon said in a statement to the Advance/SILive.com. “By the end of the year, another 150 Staten Islanders will have tragically died of a drug overdose, and yet if they had passed of any other cause, a state of emergency would have been declared and the whole of government would be singularly focused on solving the problem.”
McMahon said that while many have “grown numb” to the overdose epidemic, he and Borough President Vito Fossella founded the Staten Island Fentanyl and Overdose Task Force, which is scheduled…
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