HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio — For the last decade, Hamilton County residents have had a front-row seat to a persistent problem — drug overdose deaths. They've also gotten to witness the solutions born out of crisis.
Marking its 10th anniversary, members of the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition (HC ARC) gathered Tuesday to commemorate the work done so far and discuss the work still left to do.
"It takes a village to get this work done," Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus said. "We have done a lot of work to see that trend move downward, but there's still quite a bit of work to do."
Learn more about the coalition and its impact in the video below:
Officials unveiled data for the 2024 State of the Addiction Crisis annual report, which shows overdose deaths in the county have nearly halved since 2015, from 414 deaths to 270.
Since the heroin crisis peak in 2017, the county has seen a 52% decrease in overdose deaths, from 570 to 270. And in the last year alone, from 2023 to 2024, deaths dropped 31%.
In order to bring about tangible change, HC ARC focuses on collaboration. It has organized its response to the crisis into six pillars: four are original pillars and four have been added over 10 years.
Pillar One: Prevention
- Installed two locked medication boxes at the St. Vincent de Paul location on Bank Street, bringing the total number in the community to seven
- Collected and safely disposed of 980 pounds of medication
- Empowering youth through information dissemination, education and discussion
- Held a county-wide youth summit attended by 105 high school students in the Tri-State
Pillar Two: Treatment
- Gathered and analyzed data to identify treatment gaps in Hamilton County
- Launched "Trimming the Stigma" campaign with 40 county barbershops and salons to educate people about opioid addiction, harm reduction, and treatment services
- Contracted with nine behavioral health agencies to launch 18 projects touching on residential treatment, counseling, peer support, recovery housing, etc.
Pillar Three: Interdiction
- Expanding the Price Hill Project pilot program into Cincinnati Police District One, the central business district and Cincinnati Police District Four
- Operate the One-Stop Resource Center, which works to "to eliminate barriers to accessing supportive services that improve quality of life and provide essential support to families."
Pillar Four: Harm Reduction
- Held 26 community events in 2024
- Distributed 24,000 doses of Narcan, which is used to reverse the effects of an overdose
- Expanding its syringe services program, which operates at seven locations and served 16,000 clients
- Partnered with 80 businesses to distribute 120,000 fentanyl test strips kits
Pillar Five: Equity and Engagement
- Hosted youth symposiums with the Hamilton County Addiction Response Partners
- Held the first-ever African-American overdose awareness event
Pillar Six: Recovery
- Operated the "Recovery Friendly Hamilton County" workplace initiative, reaching 67 designees representing over 17,000 employers
- Collected data on the aforementioned program's efficacy: 65% noticed a decline in stigma while 66% observed an increase in employee morale
- Operated the "On the Front Lines Community Alliance," which is a nonprofit encouraging professional collaboration. In 2024, more than 630 people representing 151 agencies attended its events
"I'm trying to contain my emotions so that I can talk and articulate what this means to me in the community," Newton Police Chief Tom Synan said.
Synan is the only original member left on the current HC ARC team and remembers the crisis that brought its rise in 2015.
"That was the COVID before COVID," he said. "Hospitals were overrun, first responders overwhelmed."
While circumstances have shifted, Synan said, the fight is far from over.
"Public health has the resources we need to save someone's life immediately, and then law enforcement has a way to change infrastructure," he said. "Clearing out the stigma, getting over egos, having a passion and being adaptable."
You can read the 2024 HC ARC annual report below:
