Berrien County sheriff tells state committee fentanyl accounts for 74% of local seizures as overdoses climb

Sheriff Chuck Hite of Berrien County told the Michigan House Committee on Homeland Security and Foreign Influence on (date not specified) that fentanyl now represents roughly 74% of drug seizures in his county and that overdose deaths have climbed sharply since about 2020.

“Fentanyl is 74 percent, of that,” Sheriff Chuck Hite said, summarizing laboratory and seizure data his office provided to the committee. He and Captain Sean Yek, who leads the enforcement division in the sheriff’s office, said local drug labs and undercover work show fentanyl increasingly appears alone or mixed into other drugs, including heroin and methamphetamine.

The testimony outlined two linked developments that officials said are driving overdose deaths: the growth in the volume of fentanyl in the supply chain and the appearance of other substances — most notably xylazine — that do not respond to naloxone (Narcan). “A new cutting agent that we are finding in a lot of these is Xylazine,” Captain Sean Yek said. He added, “Narcan does not work on Xylazine.”

Why it matters: Committee members pressed officials on how fentanyl is entering Michigan, how local law enforcement is responding, and what state legislators might do about sentencing, funding, and public awareness. Committee members repeatedly framed the spike in overdose…