Latest NH Drug Overdose Data Shows Deaths Leveling Off

CONCORD, NH — While there are still a handful of overdose deaths pending toxicology reports, drug death counts in New Hampshire appear to be plateauing, according to the latest data from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. In 2018, 473 passed away due to a drug overdose in the state. Of those deaths, 380 were due to fentanyl and fentanyl mixed with other drugs not including heroin. Only three people in New Hampshire passed away due to heroin and fentanyl mixed together, according to the data.

Only two people died of heroin overdoses in the state while 31 died from opiates/opioids and 50 died from other drugs or unknown drugs.

Six cases are still “pending toxicology,” according to Kim Fallon, a chief forensic investigator with the NH Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Those results can take two to three months for the state to receive. The availability of the state’s pathologist to review the results also depends on the autopsy schedule, court appearances, and other factors, she noted.

The medical examiner’s office has determined a drug death that is pending toxicology to be an overdose based on scene investigation and/or autopsy findings even though the cause of death is dependent on the results of the tests, Fallon noted in the latest report.

Other deaths that appear to not be the result of drugs can later be determined to be drug related after the results are analyzed.

In 2018, 63 people died from cocaine usage including 55 who mixed cocaine with opioids. Twenty-one people in New Hampshire died due to methamphetamine including 16 who mixed meth and opioids.

Last year, July was the busiest month for overdose deaths followed by March and May; June was the month with the least deaths in New Hampshire, with 20 – about a third the number of deaths in July.

This year, 119 people in New Hampshire have passed away due to drug deaths, according to the data through last week, about the same amount of deadly overdoses at the same time last year.