COLUMBUS – Franklin County experienced a dropoff in drug overdose deaths during the first three months of the year, but figure was still much higher than just two years ago, according to a report released Friday.
The preliminary total of 111 fatal overdoses represented a 13 percent decline from the first quarter of 2017, but were 35 percent more than the same period in 2016 (see graph), according to the office of Franklin County Coroner Dr. Anahi Ortiz.
Ortiz says the decline could be attributed to Increased awareness and collaboration by law enforcement, emergency services and health agencies; greater availability of the anti-overdose drug Narcan or naloxone, used by EMS or bystanders; large seizures of drugs by law enforcement and stricter guidelines for prescribers and pharmacists of opiates, both of which reduced the supply.
Many of the county’s overdose deaths are still reported in five areas concentrated on the West and Southwest Sides, the South Side and the Far East Side (see map).
Opiate-related deaths accounted for 84 percent of the overdose deaths, the vast majority – 67 percent – associated with the synthetic drug fentanyl
Victims continue to be younger: those under 39 years of age accounted for nearly 59 percent of the total. The majority of deaths were among white men, Ortiz said.