COLUMBUS – A report from the Franklin County coroner indicates that the number of drug overdose deaths in the county nearly doubled in the first half of this year, compared with the same period one year ago.
The 268 overdose deaths recorded between Jan. 1 and June 30 was 88 percent higher than during the same six-month period in 2016, when 143 overdose deaths were reported by Coroner Dr. Anahi Ortiz’s office.
Ortiz reported that 353 people died of drug-related overdoses in 2016 but that she fears as many as 500 may die this year.
Opiates continue to claim most of the lives in Franklin County, accounting for 80 percent of the deaths, while fentanyl and related drugs are blamed for more than half of the fatal overdoses.
While deaths among whites declined by 6 percent, the number among African-Americans increased by 5 percent, Ortiz said. During the first six months of 2017, 23 percent of the deaths in the county were among African-Americans, up from 18 percent in 2016, while 76 percent of the victims of fatal overdoses were white, compared with 82 percent a year ago, she said.
The five ZIP codes where the largest numbers of deaths were reported were on the Far Southeast Side, the South Side, Franklinton and the Hilltop, German Village and South Linden.