Overdose deaths down in Lorain County | Lorain County

Drug overdose deaths have decreased in 2018, but Lorain County officials are wary of saying they’ve turned a corner in the opioid epidemic.

Lorain County Coroner Dr. Stephen B. Evans said as of Dec. 18, the county had 78 confirmed drug overdose deaths, with 20 more cases awaiting test results.

“We’re a little bit better than last year,” Evans said. “There’s a good chance we’ll be at 100, or maybe even a little bit less.

“Or if we get a big run at the end of the year, it may be a bit more.”

For the last few years, Evans said, the county has averaged about 130 opioid confirmed overdose deaths a year.

So far this year, the county is down about 30 deaths, he said.

Decline in deaths

This drop in deaths seems to align with a decline in overdose calls made to the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office this year.

Lorain County Commissioner Lori Kokoski said, as of Dec. 19, the county had received 770 overdose calls compared to 911 calls in 2017.

Evans and Kokoski warn that while the deaths and calls seem are declining, that may not mean fewer people are overdosing.

They attribute some of the drop in numbers to the county’s efforts to widely distribute the anti-overdose drug naloxone, commonly referred to by the brand name Narcan, to those most in danger.

Evans told an anecdote about a recent TV program that referenced the decline in opioid deaths in Hamilton County due to it recently giving naloxone kits to users.

“Well, basically, Lorain County has been doing that for over a year ourselves,” he said. “The county health department gives to users and family and friends of users to try and help save them. I think some of the things that we’re doing is helping.”

Kokoski said there is a similar program in the Lorain County Jail.

“If you’re incarcerated at the jail and you have an opiate issue, they will hand you a Narcan kit as you walk out the door,” she said. “So that’s helping. Not every single overdose is actually getting called in through 911.”

Kokoski added that 770 calls is a lot, but it’s still a step in the right direction.

Deadly mixes

Evans warns that the driving force of overdose deaths seems to be shifting from a primary cocktail of heroin and the different forms of the synthetic opioid fentanyl to combinations of the various forms of fentanyl and cocaine.

“We’re still seeing heroin, but the biggest drug is fentanyl and its analogs, the designer drugs that are like fentanyl,” he said. “Cocaine is number two and heroin is number three.”

Evans noted last year that there was an uptick in cocaine and fentanyl and a downturn in heroin being found in the systems of overdose deaths.

That trend has continued in 2018, he said.

“Heroin is going down because drug dealers are substituting fentanyl for heroin,” Evans said. “So most of these overdose deaths I’m seeing are people who think they’re getting heroin, but they’re really getting fentanyl or its analogs.”

Evans believes users have begun using more cocaine because they incorrectly believe the drug is safer than heroin.

He said this makes no sense because the two drugs cause very different mechanisms of death.

“From heroin and the opiates, you die from respiratory depression usually,“ he said. “From cocaine, you usually die of cardiac problems.”

Cocaine also fails to stop an addict’s need for opioids, Evans said.

Drug dealers now are adding cocaine to the heroin or fentanyl to increase the effect of the drug in an effort to increase sales, he said.

Mixed drug overdoses are the norm, Evans said, and very rarely does his office see an overdose death with just one drug.

“So it’s being added without people knowing it sometimes, while other times, people are trying it themselves because they’re thinking it’s safer, but it’s not,” he said.

Treatment and prevention

Evans and Kokoski highlight the efforts of local organizations to try and curtail the county’s opioid epidemic.

“We are getting some treatment programs going,” Evans said. “The LCADA and the (Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board of Lorain County) are working hard on recovery and treatment.”

Kokoski also touted the work of Let’s Get Real, a peer support group that sees people who’ve gotten sober helping people who need to get into recovery.

“One of the things they do is if someone overdoses and gets sent to the emergency room, in about 45 minutes, somebody from Let’s Get Real will be at the hospital talking to that person,” she said. “Just sitting down with them and having a conversation.”

In some cities, if the person who overdosed chooses not to act within a week of their release a peer support person, a counselor and law enforcement will visit the person and help them get into treatment, Kokoski said.

“There are a lot of things going on in the community behind the scenes that are also helping and getting people into treatment,” she said.

County effort

The county is trying to address the opioid epidemic with the proposed Recovery One facility in the former Golden Acres Nursing Home in Amherst Township.

A levy to fund the facility, which would offer wraparound services currently not provided by private entities, failed in the November election.

The defeat has thrown the project into limbo as the commissioners and their partners try to reconfigure the plans for the facility based on what services will be provided by other entities.

“There’s a lot of discussions still going on with hospitals and providers to try and figure out where the gaps really are,” Kokoski said. “If somebody does detox, maybe we don’t have to do detox. Maybe we just have to do recovery housing and maybe mental health services.”

The county is unsure what to do with the planned facility that would not need to use money from the general fund or that can be reimbursed through insurance providers, Medicaid or grant money, Kokoski said.

“We’re trying to figure out a revenue neutral programming for Recovery One,” she said.

While the decrease in overdose deaths and the increase in treatment options are heartening, Evans is still hesitant to celebrate.

“What I’m hoping, knock on wood, is that we’re turning the corner,” he said. “But I’m hesitant to say that because I’ve been fooled in the past.”