On April 1, 2016, John Sienkiewicz spoke three words to his daughter, Alexandria, known as Alex, as she headed out with friends.

“I love you.”

Hours later, Alex, 23, would be found in her bedroom, dead from an overdose of fentanyl, a powerful narcotic painkiller.

The young woman was among 4,884 people in Pennsylvania who died drug-related deaths that year.

Every day that year, 13 people in the commonwealth died from drug-related causes, according to the latest data available from the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association.

Schuylkill County saw 77 deaths; Carbon, 18; Monroe, 48; Northampton, 81; and Lehigh, 157.

Philadelphia topped the list with 907 deaths; Warren and Cameron counties reported no drug-related deaths that year.

Increase in deaths

The startling increase in drug-related deaths in recent years shows no signs of slowing.

In 2014, at least 2,489 people in Pennsylvania died of drug use, a 20 percent increase over 2013.

In 2015, the numbers reached 3,505, and in 2016, the number jumped to 4,884, a 96 percent increase over the course of two years.

“And, if preliminary data from 2017 is any indication, the number of deaths will continue to increase,” the Coroners Association said in its annual report.

Most drug deaths happen to young people, ages 25-34. Men account for about 70 percent of the deaths.

Caucasians account for about 77 percent of the deaths, blacks for 12 percent, Hispanics 4 percent. The remaining 7 percent are listed as “others.”

Getting at the roots

“Make no mistake, the epidemic of drug overdoses that is killing is at a faster rate than the HIV epidemic at its peak,” the Coroners Association said.

“Until we start thinking of this as a mass disaster in society, we will continue to lose the war on drugs. We must disrupt or dismantle not only the supply of illegal drugs, but we must disrupt the supporting financial infrastructure of supplying illegal drugs.”

Sienkiewicz, whose daughter’s death prompted a change of career from homebuilder to drug counselor, daily sees the devastation.

“This is a disease. It’s legitimately a disease of the brain. It may start with a choice, but it quickly becomes a disease,” he said.

“I want people to understand that this can happen to anybody. It doesn’t matter how rich, how poor, how functional or dysfunctional your family is. This has no prejudice.”