Fatal overdoses down by 37% in La Salle County, but officials remain cautious

The first words out of his mouth were “knock on wood,” but Rich Ploch told his fellow coroners that La Salle County’s fatal overdoses had fallen – down by a third, actually.

Ploch was at a coroner’s conference when he reported hesitantly the projected decline for 2024. He was relieved when his colleagues reported similar findings: Statewide, fewer Illinoisans are dying from overdoses.

Ploch recorded 12 confirmed overdoses in 2024, resulting a year-over-year decline of 37%.

“I just worry about ebb and flow,” Ploch said. “If it’s down again next year then I won’t worry so much, but I’ve been in this office long enough to have seen slowdowns only to see the figures pop up again.”

What’s going on? No one factor is at work but Ploch’s data suggests heroin use is diminishing. Cocaine, fentanyl and especially methamphetamine crop up more frequently than heroin in the toxicology panels that Ploch gets from the lab.

The Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team confirmed that heroin is shrinking on the black market.

Tri-DENT command Marc Hoster acknowledged that while there have been some notable heroin seizures of late, he and his agents are generally busting fewer users selling heroin to feed their own habits.

“Overall drug use is not down,” Hoster said with caution. “We’re going to have a record number of busts this year. But there’s a very small percentage of heroin and fentanyl where it used to be the majority of our cases.”

Hoster estimated the heroin use and black-market sales are down about 80% from recent years, thanks to market forces that aren’t necessarily positive or negative.

Mexican drug cartels have ramped up the production of methamphetamine and the Illinois Valley is suffering the consequences; but meth has effectively displaced heroin and driven down overdose rates.

Hoster said fewer young adults seem to be taking up heroin, as well.

“We’re seeing fewer young people than we have before,” Hoster said. “What we’re seeing is people who’ve been involved in heroin for 10 or 15 years.”

Ploch’s data confirm that. The average age of a fatal overdose victim is 42.

Luke Tomsha, founder and director of the Perfectly Flawed Foundation, said better outreach, public awareness and, especially, access to naloxone has further reduced fatal overdoses.

Tomsha said that during the pandemic Perfectly Flawed, along with Buddy’s Purpose, launched a mobile harm reduction and overdose prevention program that utilizes a text line with mobile engagement.

“By creating a stigma-free environment without judgment, we are uniquely qualified to engage directly with people at highest risk of overdose, people who use drugs,” Tomsha said.

The groups also implemented a secondary exchange network where people can anonymously receive overdose prevention tools, including naloxone.

“We are literally facilitating overdose reversals of people we’ve never met,” Tomsha said. “This is important in rural areas where stigma is high, barriers to care are many and people are afraid to come forward for help.”

Since launch, there have been 1,000 reported overdose reversals to date, including more than 400 this year in Perfectly Flawed’s eight-county service area. This has eased the strain on EMS companies and emergency departments.

Tomsha emphasized people have not stopped using drugs and the illicit drug supply still is unpredictable and laden with risks. Nevertheless, he also welcomed the continued decline of fatal overdoses.

“I’m very grateful to hear these decreases continue and we hope to see that get to zero someday,” Tomsha said. “The pain of one overdose that families experience is something no one wants to face.”