Fatal overdoses in county up, but may have peaked
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Drug deaths in Allegheny County rose by 12 percent last year over the prior year, the Office of the Medical Examiner announced Monday, in releasing record final totals attributable largely to the opioid epidemic.
Last year 735 people died from overdoses in the county, up from 655 in 2016, according to a county news release.
The good news: Overdoses peaked sometime in 2016 “and have dropped progressively since that point.”
Most of last year’s drug deaths were caused by mixtures of drugs, with fentanylrelated substances most commonly present. Heroin, cocaine, alcohol and alprazolam — the active ingredient in Xanax — round out the top five drugs found in overdose victims.
The county release indicates that a gradual decrease in drug deaths over the course of last year can be attributed in part to the wide distribution of naloxone, often referred to by the brand name Narcan, which reverses opioid overdoses. Also saving lives, according to the county, are “the combined attention to the problem by collaborative efforts of county departments, public safety agencies, and community groups such as Prevention Point Pittsburgh.”
Overdosefreepa.org, a project of the Pennsylvania Opioid Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Pharmacy, provides slightly different numbers, tallying 737 fatal overdoses in Allegheny County in 2017, versus 650 in 2016, for a 13 percent increase.
According to Overdosefreepa.org, last year’s overdose victims in Allegheny County included 520 men and 217 women; 633 whites, 94 blacks and 10 of other racial backgrounds; 56 people under the age of 25 and 132 who were 55 or older.
The ZIP codes hardest hit were 15212 (parts of the North Side), 15136 (McKees Rocks) and 15210 (Carrick and the Hilltop).
Four surrounding counties — Washington, Beaver, Indiana and Armstrong — saw their numbers of fatal overdoses decline last year. Westmoreland, Butler, Fayette and Lawrence counties, though, saw increases.