SALT LAKE CITY — While fatal fentanyl overdoses are decreasing across the country, they continue to rise in Utah with a new state task force trying to reduce those numbers.

Utah is one of five states reporting an increase in fentanyl-related deaths.

“This is not acceptable to us in the state of Utah. We can do better and we must do better,” Utah Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson said Thursday at the task force’s inaugural meeting.

Anderson added that the number of fentanyl overdose deaths in the state reached its highest level ever last year.

“Unlike other drugs that we have actually experienced in the illicit market, what we have seen in the last few years is very worrying,” the commissioner added.

Although Salt Lake County has the highest overdose rate, data shows Uintah County has the highest overdose rate when adjusted for population.

“It’s all over our state,” Anderson said. “Like most small communities, here… on the subway front. No one is immune to this.”

It wasn’t all bad news, though.

“The numbers really tell the story in themselves, and I think we’ve seen such a sharp increase in fentanyl overdoses that it really detracts from the successes we’ve had in reducing other overdoses, especially with prescription opioids.” said Megan Broekemeier, fatal drug overdose investigation coordinator for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.

Broekemeier says public awareness is vital to saving lives.

“Understanding that overdose is preventable,” he explained. “We all have a part to play in this. And in doing that and preventing overdoses. That’s like the first step.”

The task force’s first step will be to create working groups that will analyze the data, as well as develop prevention treatment and recovery plans, conduct outreach and education, and find ways to enable law enforcement to better protect Utahns.