By The Numbers: Western New York’s Heroin Epidemic

Alone, 23 people have died in the past two weeks.

It's no surprise that Buffalo has a major opioid problem right now around town. It's a problem that Erie County officials have been trying to seriously combat for some years now and unfortunately, the epidemic is becoming more and more widespread.

Deaths in 2015: 203

• Males - 71%
• Females - 29%

• Caucasian - 87%
• Other - 13%

• Aged 20 to 39 - 59%
• Other - 41%

According to WGRZ:

While heroin used to be an inner city drug problem, it is now widespread. In Erie County, 46% of the overdose deaths in 2015 occurred in the City of Buffalo, with 39% in the suburbs and 9% in the rural areas of the county.

It's not just heroin causing deaths. In fact, Fentanyl alone accounted for 43% of the opioid deaths. Only 12% were linked solely to heroin. Another 16% were a combination of the two, and the remaining 29% were attributed to "other opioids".