By Wayne Gates
The accidental drug overdose death rate in Brown County is falling.
26 people died in 2018 in the county due to accidental overdose, compared to 31 deaths in 2017.
The numbers are part of a statewide report on unintentional drug overdoses that was recently released by the Ohio Department of Health.
Even with the decline, Brown County held its status as having the second highest per capita death rate in the state from 2017. Brown County’s per capita death rate in 2018 was 65.7.
Per capita means the number of deaths per 100,000 people.
The highest accidental overdose rate in the state in 2018 was in Scioto County at 68.3. 47 deaths were reported there that year.
Adams County had the 24th highest per capita death rate in the state in 2018 at 40.5 and Clermont County had the 26th highest at 40.0.
According to the ODH, from 2013 through 2018, Brown County had the second highest death rate in the state with an average of 54.9 deaths per 100,000 people. Montgomery County was number one during that period at 61.0. All but two of the 14 counties with the highest average death rates in the state are located in southwest Ohio.
The ODH also provided ten years worth of data regarding the number of accidental overdose deaths since in the state since 2009.
In Brown County during that period, 187 people in the county lost their lives to overdoses. The highest number during that ten year period was in 2017 with 31, compared to 18 in 2016.
For context, the 26 deaths in 2018, while less than the year before, are still higher than any year between 2009 to 2016.
Statewide, 3150 people died from unintentional overdoses in 2018 compared to 4854 in 2017. That was a 22.5 percent decrease. Prior to 2018, the number of statewide deaths had been rising every year since 2009.
According to the data, Fentanyl and its components, sometimes mixed with other drugs, is the primary killer of people who overdose accidently.
72.6 percent of statewide deaths in 2018 involved fentanyl, an opiate or a combination of the two.
Fentanyl was first seen in Ohio in 2014. The next year, it surpassed heroin as the number on leading cause of overdose deaths. Fentanyl-related deaths continued to rise sharply until 2017 before starting to decline in 2018.
15 percent of the deaths were attributed to psychostimulants, which includes methamphetamine.
Local law enforcement and drug treatment professionals agree that meth use has spiked significantly in the past two years, both locally and statewide.
“What we are seeing on the treatment side is a lot more meth abuse than heroin at this point,” said Brown County Board of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director Deanna Vietze.
Also weighing in was Brown County Drug and Major Crimes Task Force Commander Justin Conley.
“From a law enforcement perspective, we have seen a huge shift from heroin use to methamphetamine use. That has been building for the past couple of years,” Conley said.
“We interdicted two pounds worth of methamphetamine off the streets of Brown County in 2018. In 2019, that number climbed to just under six pounds.”
Conley said that the trend toward meth and away from heroin seems to be accelerating.
“Starting in 2017, the people that are overdosing with methamphetamine in their system has gone way up. By the end of 2018, those numbers were much higher than they were a year before. We have successfully taken off some large drug trafficking organizations in the county that have contributed to that, but we still have more work to do.”
Vietze said that treatment options are also working to reduce overdose deaths.
“I know that Talbert House has more people on medication assisted treatment than we have had in the past, so there is a lot more awareness about treatment options. It’s just getting individuals to admit that they have a problem and asking for help,” she said.
Vietze also credited the greater availability of Narcan to save the lives of those who have overdosed on opioids, education efforts and the availability of a needle exchange program in the county.
“They had 216 unique visits with 3699 needles exchanged. That means folks are not reusing needles, which makes the liklihood of overdose or infection higher,” Vietze said.
Conley also gave credit to the treatment community in the county for the reduction in overdose deaths.
“I believe that some of the programs in the county for rehabilitation are helping reach people who need help. Our quick response team has been extremely successful in helping people,” he said.
Vietze and Conley both said that the expected the number trends shown in 2018 to continue into the 2019 numbers when they are released next year by the ODH.
“The numbers are always behind, but I have seen some preliminary numbers from 2019 and I believe they are down from 2018. I know we have had a lot fewer calls for overdoses than we have had in the past,” Vietze said.
From the law enforcement side, Conley said “Based on what we are seeing, we expect another slight increase in methamphetamine use this year. I don’t expect an increase like we saw last year, but I don’t think we are at the cap of that issue yet.”