It’s an epidemic that can only be effectively addressed through cooperation and a combination of prevention, early intervention, up-to-date treatment, and life-saving measures such as the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, said Dr. Mark Hurst, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services’ medical director.
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He said stepped-up prescription monitoring and new guidance for prescribers helped sharply reduce opioid doses dispensed in the state, and said OH has other action in the works to curb prescription drug misuse.
The number has risen every year since 2009; since 2010, almost 13,000 Ohioans have died from unintentional drug overdoses.
The report says an “urgent” response from law enforcement and public health is necessary to tackle the fentanyl problem, including more testing for fentanyl in areas where it’s a big problem.
The battle for OH, and the country, in the war on opioid abuse is fighting for that lost generation “who grew up without any concerns for these pills”, Kasich said.
The majority of the deaths in OH previous year involved illegally produced fentanyl, not the prescription drug commonly given to end-stage cancer patients.
“We have no idea, really, what’s causing this at this point, if it’s carfentanil or something else in this particular batch of heroin”, Synan said.
Kasich said former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who in the 1980s championed the “Just Say No” campaign, had it right. The county lost 36 people to unintentional overdoses in 2015, up from 31 in 2014, according to the state report.A bright spot amidst the preliminary 2015 fatal overdose report, released Thursday, is the fourth straight year that prescription painkillers, like Vicodin and Oxycontin, has represented a smaller percent of the overall number of overdose deaths. In January 2015, Kasich launched his “Start Talking” initiative.
Enforcement: Work with lawmakers to stiffen penalties for people illegally selling fentanyl, support local drug task forces and step up drug-seizure efforts.
Fentanyl is often used as a pain reliever for cancer patients.
He also presented suggestions, such as giving drug offenders treatment instead of putting them prison. Naloxone can be dispensed by pharmacists without a prescription under changes made in 2015, and more than 900 pharmacies around the state now offer that. The largest one-year increase among counties with the most fentanyl-related deaths was in Clark County where fentanyl-related overdoses increased sixfold to 48.
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Though the number of heroin-related deaths is still greater than those from fentanyl, CDC behavioral scientist Matthew Gladden said, “the issue [of fentanyl] seems to be spreading and growing”.
