In 2011, as the national opioid crisis was beginning to reveal itself, New Jersey officials were alarmed to see drug deaths crack 1,000 for the first time. 

This year, the state passed that total by early May. 

An analysis of data from the New Jersey Attorney General's Office shows that, thus far in 2018, at least 1,669 people have died of drug overdoses -- an average of more than eight a day.

If the state stays at the current pace, deaths will eclipse 3,000 for the first time, all but assuring a fourth-straight record-setting year. In Cumberland County alone, deaths are up more than 100% compared to the first six months of 2017.

Each year this decade, New Jersey has lost the equivalent of a small town to the opioid crisis. 

In 2012, a town the size of Milford was wiped out because of drugs, and law enforcement officials warned the state was becoming a hub for heroin dealers.  

The next year, the state lost the equivalent of Lebanon Borough. State Sen. Robert Singer, R-Ocean, was incredulous. 

"If five kids died of a measles outbreak, we'd have parents attacking the schools," he told the Star-Ledger at the time. "We had five deaths in one week and nobody is outraged. I'm mind-boggled that we did not see a surge of people asking 'What are we going to do about it?' "