Overdose numbers continue to topple in Trumbull County, rise in Mercer County

TRUMBULL CO., Ohio (WKBN) – The number of overdoses and overdose deaths in Trumbull County last year was down significantly.

Twice in 2017, Trumbull County issued alerts when overdoses skyrocketed. It was a way to let drug users and their families know there was a problem.

But last year, no alerts were issued. People are still overdosing and dying in Trumbull County but not at the rates previously seen.

In 2017, 135 people died from overdoses in Trumbull County. Last year, there were 65 confirmed and 11 pending for a possible total of 76 overdose deaths — a 44 percent drop from year to year.

Then there are overdoses — people who showed up at hospitals needing help. In 2017, there were 1,254 overdoses. Last year, it was 764 — that’s down 40 percent.

Half of all overdose deaths are from either fentanyl, a fentanyl and cocaine mix or a mixture that includes meth. Eight percent are a mix of fentanyl and heroin. Only five percent of overdoses were from heroin alone.

One of the reasons for the decrease is the use of naloxone kits.

Since 2015, naloxone has been used in Trumbull County 539 times and someone died 21 of those times. That is a success rate of 96 percent. 

“I think it has to do with narcan being carried by a lot more people. The narcan being carried by our law enforcement,” said April Caraway with the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board.

While nalaxone has played a big part, Caraway said it is not the only reason for the decrease in cases.

“We have agencies getting people into treatment the same day. Used to be we had to wait a week for detox. Now we can get them in the same day because we have more agencies out there, Project DAWN naloxone kits helping people get revived to get into treatment, partnerships with the law enforcement and a lot of other community partners. Just a whole bunch of people working together.”

Numbers from the Trumbull County Combined Health District show the number of naloxone kits being passed out to people was down by 14 to 402. The number of kits given to law enforcement was down four to 454, though the number used by the Warren Police Department dropped from 165 in 2017 to 65 in 2018.

According to statistics, 61 percent of overdoses were between the ages of 20 and 40. About 58 percent were men and overdoses happened most frequently on Thursdays.

Caraway said she hopes 2019 will see another large deducation in overdoses and overdose deaths.

“We know that people can get addicted to pain meds. That can lead to the opiate addiction, so it’s a lot of prevention in the schools, a lot of doctors prescribing less pain meds to begin with and that will continue to decline, I hope.”

While numbers in Trumbull County were down, the same cannot be said for Mercer County. The number of overdose deaths in Mercer County continues to rise — 17 in 2015, 31 in 2016, 41 in 2017 and 52 last year.