evidence: There were 1,427 opioid-related deaths in the state in 2021, officials with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services confirmed, a 16 percent increase over 2020 and a 70 percent increase over the number of deaths in 2018. [...] In 2020, Wisconsin recorded 1,227 opioid-related deaths, which was 311 more deaths than in 2019. [...] The vast majority — or nearly 1,300 — of Wisconsin’s opioid related-deaths in 2021 involved synthetic opioids, and in most cases that was fentanyl, Krupski said.