DEA report digs into overdose death data
Statewide, according to the report, heroin was found in nearly 52 percent of those who died from a drug overdose
PHILADELPHIA >> Montgomery County had the third-most drugrelated overdose deaths of all Pennsylvania counties in 2014, with heroin identified as being in the system of nearly half of those who died, according to a newly issued report by the Pennsylvania Field Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The first-of-its-kind report analyzed toxicology reports in the state and was completed in the wake of recent statistics showing Pennsylvania ranks ninth in the United States in drug overdose deaths.
In 2014, the report states, 158 people died from a drug overdose in Montgomery County — Philadelphia was first with 655 overdose deaths, followed by Allegheny County with 307 overdose deaths — while Delaware (118 deaths), York (118 deaths) and Bucks (113) counties closely followed Montgomery County’s numbers. Two neighboring counties ranked much lower, with Berks County showing 62 deaths and Chester County recording 36 deaths.
Heroin was found in the systems of 73 of the Montgomery County decedents, based on toxicology results provided by the
Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, according to the DEA. Oxycodone was found in the systems of 28 people, cocaine in 27 people, alprazolam (the active ingredient in Xanax) in 25 people and fentanyl, an opiate more potent than morphine that’s often used to cut heroin, in 17 people. Other so-called “drugs of interest” found in decedents’ systems included the anti-seizure drug clon- azepam (branded as Klonopin), hydrocodone, methamphetamine, methadone, tramadol, marijuana, PCP and MDMA.
Of the 2,497 who died of drug overdoses statewide in 2014, 81 percent had two or more drugs of interest in their system, while “in the results with only one reported drug of interest, 48 percent involved an illicit drug and 38 percent involved an opioid,” according to the report.
Overall, 44 percent of those who died had illicit drugs in their system, and 34 percent had opioids in their system, the report indicates.
Of those who died of a drug-related overdose in Montgomery County in 2014, 57 percent were male, 83 percent were white, and 53 percent were between the ages of 18 and 45, the data shows.
Statewide, according to the report, heroin was found in nearly 52 percent of those who died from a drug overdose, while a benzodiazepine was found in approximately 50 percent of those who died from a drug overdose. Within the benzodiaz- epine category, alprazolam was the most frequently reported (40 percent).
The DEA noted that the report did not analyze the existence of valid prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam and other non-illicit drugs found in the systems of the decedents and therefore, it is not possible to assess if these substances were obtained fraudulently or were diverted from legitimate sources.
The report suggests that recent prescription drug monitoring legislation “should, in time, reduce the readiness with which pre- scription opioid seekers can obtain them from medical professionals, and that expanded naloxone (aka Narcan) use by law enforcement, medics and citizens “should increase the likelihood that a third-party will intervene on behalf of someone suspected of experiencing an opioid overdose, thereby limiting fatal overdoses.”
“It is imperative for law enforcement entities to maintain awareness of the drugs of abuse in the communities that we serve,” the report states. “An understanding of this can be achieved through analysis of drug-related overdose death data.”
The report “presents the first comprehensive baseline analysis of drug-related overdose death data at the county level for Pennsylvania, and will assuredly be used by local, state and federal entities to define the threats to their respective areas of responsibility and to implement responses to these threats through requests for funding and grants, allocation of existing resources and decisions regarding public policy,” the DEA said.