Area logs record deaths

At least 822 people died of drug overdose deaths in 2017 in Cuyahoga County, according to a preliminary report from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office.

That figure is a record — 666 people died from overdoses in the county in 2016 — and it could rise as there were still 50 cases pending at the time of the medical examiner’s report.

Not surprisingly, fentanyl was again the county’s leading contributor, with 477 deaths attributed to the powerful synthetic opioid. That figure too was a new high, up from 399 the previous year.

The number of deaths involving heroin decreased from 320 to 250. It’s worth noting,

however, that the 250 deaths attributed to heroin are still more than any other year except 2016.

Cocaine continued its upward tick, a trend the medical examiner’s office noticed last year. Deaths attributed to the drug soared to 349, up from 260 in 2016, which itself was a significant climb from the 115 deaths in 2015.

More than half of the 2017 cocaine related-deaths (200) involved fentanyl. That percentage has more than doubled since 2015 when about 21 percent of cocaine deaths involved fentanyl.

Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson noted the trend in a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing in May.

“With seemingly purposeful intent, cocaine is now being mixed with fentanyl and its analogs in an effort to introduce these drugs into the AfricanAmerican population,” Gilson said in his testimony. “The covert introduction of fentanyl into the cocaine supply has caused a rapid rise in fatalities and in 2017 the rate of African-American

“With seemingly purposeful intent, cocaine is now being mixed with fentanyl and its analogs in an effort to introduce these drugs into the African-American population. The covert introduction of fentanyl into the cocaine supply has caused a rapid rise in fatalities and in 2017 the rate of African-American fentanyl-related deaths has doubled from 2016.” — Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson said during a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing in May.

fentanyl-related deaths has doubled from 2016.”

According to the medical examiner’s preliminary 2017 report, the “rate of African American deaths involving fentanyl is 20.7 percent of all victims, a higher rate than 2016 (14.5 percent).”

Cuyahoga County had 192 deaths attributed to carfentanil according to the report. The synthetic opioid used as a sedative for elephants first appeared in Ohio in summer 2016. That year 56 deaths were tied to the drug that’s 100 times more potent than fentanyl.

The medical examiner’s office is forecasting the epidemic is going to get even worse in the county. It’s projecting 1,000 deaths in 2018 and 1,200 in 2019, with carfentanil becoming an even more significant contributor to the toll.

Without ProjectDAWN (Deaths Avoided With Naloxone), however, the county could have already surpassed that 2019 project. The Medical Examiner’s report projected could have seen 1,309 overdose deaths in 2017 if not for the community-based overdose education and naloxone (an opioid overdose medicine) distribution program.