Opioid deaths in county decrease; treatment on the rise | News, Sports, Jobs

WARREN — The opioid crisis has been a growing concern in the community, but in 2018, overdose deaths have been on the decline.

In 2017, the number of overdose deaths in Trumbull County broke records at 135, which landed it as the No. 1 story on the Tribune Chronicle’s list of the top 10 stories for 2017. This year, that number has been cut in half, and the opioid epidemic placed seventh on the newspaper’s list.

According to the Trumbull County coroner, as of Dec. 20, there have been 61 confirmed deaths due to overdoses, and more cases are pending toxicology screenings. The majority of these deaths, 44, had traces of fentanyl, along with other opioids like morphine or heroin as well as non-opioid drugs, the coroner said.

April Caraway, executive director of the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board, predicts Trumbull County will end 2018 with around 80 deaths once the toxicology screens are complete.

“Trumbull County, while mid-sized, has experienced the opiate crisis like the largest cities in other counties. When they had a surge of overdoses due to increased fentanyl on the streets, we experienced it, too,” she said.

The rise in synthetic opioid overdose deaths began in 2013 with 39 deaths, then rose to 54 in 2014, 87 in 2015 and 107 in 2016, followed by the 135 last year. The decline was evident when by June 2017, there were 57 accidental drug overdose deaths, and by June 2018, the number had dropped to 22.

“Our opiate action plan lists all of the Trumbull County initiatives we’ve undertaken to reduce our numbers. More people with substance-use disorders accessed treatment last year than ever before in our history,” Caraway said. “We usually get people into detox within 24 hours and the provider agencies have walk-in hours so people don’t need to wait for help when they are ready for it.

“We are providing prevention services in all Trumbull County schools through our partner agencies to stop kids from using pain medications and to teach them of their addictive properties. Through our ASAP coalition, we have worked with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office, TAG and Mercy Health to increase options for people to dispose of their prescription drugs. This greatly reduced access to where adolescents first begin experimenting with them.”

Caraway said reduced prescribing, increased intervention efforts, increased access to naloxone through the Health Department’s Project Dawn program, increased federal and state funding for treatment, drug courts, Medication Assisted Treatment and many other interventions and partnerships have all worked to reduce overdoses.

This year not only showed a rise in opioid treatments, it also saw an advance in a lawsuit filed in December 2017. Last year, Trumbull County joined around 1,400 other U.S. cities and counties to file a lawsuit against opioid pain pill manufacturers and distributors. According to the Associated Press, there were 250 lawsuits filed by communities across the country that have been consolidated in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster of the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division in Cleveland.

On Dec. 19, Polster refused a motion to dismiss the multi-district lawsuit filed by the drug companies. He said he did not believe it was appropriate to dismiss the racketeering, conspiracy and public nuisance claims against the drug companies, including Purdue Pharma LP and Johnson & Johnson, and distributors McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc. “at this early stage” of the litigation.

“It is accurate to describe the opioid epidemic as a man-made plague, 20 years in the making. The pain, death, and heartache it has wrought cannot be overstated,” Polster wrote in his ruling. “As this Court has previously stated, it is hard to find anyone in Ohio who does not have a family member, a friend, a parent of a friend, or a child of a friend who has not been affected.”

Polster ruled the defendants have until Jan. 15 to file answers to the accusations.