Information from Project Opioid shows that overdoses went up 25% in Central Florida from 2020 to 2021 during the pandemic.

Fentanyl, data shows, is a leading contributor.

In the first six months of 2021 alone, fentanyl was present in the body of 86% of the drug overdose deaths in Central Florida.

It’s a problem that experts say doesn’t seem to be getting better.

Located in a Central Florida strip mall, it’s an all too familiar walk for Daniel Nixon.

“When are you doing shady business, it’s probably going to be in a shady area,” said Nixon, who has been using drugs since age 10. 

The shady area is where he would go to score drugs — behind the large retailer in the plaza there is a clear hole in the wall. Daniel points to it and says that’s where it all goes down — buying, selling and using. Daniel began using drugs at age ten by smoking pot.

At age 10, Nixon was smoking pot and by the time he was 14, he got in to morphine. 

“It starts from being kind of fun as a social thing to becoming dependent on it,” he said. “When you are dependent on it, it is something you have to have, and when you have to have something you are sometimes willing to do anything to get it.”

What isn’t fun is seeing people die — Nixon said he has lost two girlfriends in drug-related deaths.

In Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, there were more than 1,600 deaths between March 2020 and March 2021. That equals 51 overdoses a month and more than 1.5 a day.

Law enforcement officials say they continue to make strides in fighting the problem, but Nixon said he hasn’t noticed much of a change.

“The street isn’t feeling whatever the government is doing to keep the drugs away,” he said. “We don’t feel that.”

Nixon does go to a clinic weekly for help to fight his addiction, but admits it’s not a cure.

“You are switching one for the other, you know?” he said. “It is still an opioid, you just using government drugs, but I wouldn’t call it help.”

The treatment Nixon is on is called Methadone. Its a drug that helps people who struggle with heroin, fentanyl or other prescription painkillers.

Its purpose is to help patients function normally in daily activities, abstain from taking illicit opioid drugs and manage their withdrawal symptoms and cravings. 

According to Project Opioid, overdose deaths in racial minorities are becoming a concern. Overdose deaths in the Black population increased by more than 200% between 2015 and 2021.

Overdose deaths among the white population increased 144% over the same time period.