One bag of Splenda sweetener represents the amount of heroin in one stamp bag. It’s enough to change a life forever, and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said the problem is only getting worse.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that opioid overdoses killed more than 28,000 people in 2014.

In Pennsylvania, deaths are a fraction of that number, but it’s increasing quickly.

“This is really the biggest public health crisis that we have in Pennsylvania and in the country,” said state Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine.

The state Coroners Association found nearly 2,500 people died in PA from opioid overdoses in 2014.  Governor Wolf and health experts all said they expect those numbers to increase in the 2015 report.

Levine said the rapid expansion of this crisis can be traced back decades.  She calls it the perfect storm of factors; doctors trying to treat pain at the same time opioids were being rapidly produced.

“Those two factors together led to significant increases in the amount of individuals that were prescribed opioids for acute pain for long periods of time,” Levin explained.

That, plus cheap, powerful heroin coming in from Central and South America started killing thousands.

Now, it’s estimated 44 people die each day from opioid overdoses across the country.  One in five Americans know a family member who is addicted to prescription painkillers.

Some progress has been made, however.  Since Pennsylvania first responders started carrying Narcan 15 months ago, 800 lives have been saved.

Governor Wolf said he’s not stopping there. He is proposing $34 million in the 2016-2017 budget to open 50 centers across the state that will treat more than 11,000 new individuals with a substance use disorder.