COLUMBUS – Drug overdose deaths took a higher toll on African-American users in Franklin County last year, even while the death rates among whites and Hispanics showed slight declines.
Black drug users accounted for 28 percent of the 597 drug overdose deaths in 2019, an increase of 44 percent from 2018, according to a report from the office of Franklin County Coroner Dr. Anahi Ortiz.
Two-thirds of those suffering fatal drug overdoses were white, down from 74 percent the year before and Hispanic drug overdose deaths accounted for 2 percent of the total, a 1-percent decline from 2018.
The total number of fatal overdoses last year was 14 percent higher than the year before, Ortiz reported Thursday.
Opioid-related deaths accounted for almost 91 percent of the overdose deaths in 2019, with overdoses from the synthetic opioid fentanyl accounting for 81 percent of all deadly overdoses. Fentanyl overdose deaths have increased 39 percent since 2017.
Ortiz says her office’s statistics are sometimes different from those of the state and other agencies, which track deaths by residence only. By using injury location, Ortiz’s office also counts many people who have last known addresses in other counties or states, including homeless victims, people who are “couch surfing” or who have moved in with someone unofficially or who overdose in motels or hotels.
Deaths from cocaine overdoses increased 18 percent and 41 percent of those victims who died from a fentanyl overdose also had cocaine in their system at time of death. Twelve percent also had methamphetamines in their system..