MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- Almost half the deaths investigated by the Butler County Coroner’s office in 2015 have been heroin-related.
Coroner Dr. Lisa Mannix said so far her office has investigated 119 cases in 2015. Of those cases, 60 were drug overdoses and 56 were heroin-related. She said 47 percent of her overall caseload was heroin-related.
Mannix said that during that same period in 2014, her office investigated 114 cases. Of those, 50 were drug overdoses and 29 of those 50 were heroin-related.
COMPLETE COVERAGE: Heroin in the Tri-State
The coroner’s office said 2014 ended with 137 total drug overdose deaths. Mannix said 75 percent of those were related to heroin.
She said 2014 was the first year since those statistics were kept that drug overdoses were the leading cause of death among cases accepted by her office.
According to the Journal-News, attendees at the third-annual Heroin Summit at Atrium Medical Center said the issue at epidemic levels in the area.
The paper reported that Middletown City Manager Doug Adkins wants a plan enacted by Sept. 30 to reduce the number of heroin deaths in the first quarter of 2016.
Middletown Fire Chief Paul Lolli reported at the meeting about a drop in the number of times Narcan has been administered during emergency runs.
Lolli said 66 doses of Narcan were administered in January 2015, followed by 76 in February. But in March, the departments used 41 doses of Narcan, and 25 doses so far for April. The department didn’t have a reason for the decrease.
