It was present in almost 55 percent of the deaths.The DEA’s 2014 report, released late previous year, showed drug death totals that were vastly different from those in an earlier report on 2014 issued by the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association.On Tuesday, the DEA significantly revised its 2014 totals.For instance, the DEA originally reported Armstrong County’s drug-overdose death rate as 20.65 per 100,000 people in 2014, ranking it 14th among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
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Indiana County fell 4th on the list with a rate of 41. And of all Pennsylvania counties, Indiana County had the greatest change in overdose drug deaths – an increase of 260 percent – from 2014 to 2015.
In the ensuing year, fentanyl almost doubled in prevalence statewide, while fentanyl analog acetylfentanyl appeared in reports for the first time.
Of the county’s 117 reported fatal overdoses, heroin was present in almost half, while fentanyl appeared in more than a quarter of cases, the report said. The majority (26 percent) of decedents was in the 30 to 39 year old category.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports drug overdoses have climbed across Pennsylvania. And 14 rural counties were among the top 20 counties with the largest increase in the rate of drug-related overdose deaths per 100,000 people from 2014 to 2015.
Law enforcement veteran Jeremiah Daley, executive director of the Philadelphia-Camden High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, suggested dropping stigmas associated with substance abuse and addiction.
According to new data, the recent crackdown on prescription painkillers such as OxyContin has led addicts to turn to more illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. But, eight counties in southwestern Pennsylvania were among those with most per-capita drug deaths.
Public warnings about dangerously potent stamp bags of heroin, laced with fentanyl or one of its derivatives, sometimes actually drives up the demand for the potentially-lethal drug. “Their body tells them they have to have it”.
Speaking about the problem, DEA special agent in charge of Pennsylvania and Delaware, Gary Tuggle, said that people continue to be addicted to opioids and are also now making the transition “from the opioids to street heroin”. We still have opportunistic drug dealers that are supplying the cheapest and most powerful heroin ever known.
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“We’re trying to confront (the drug overdose deaths) from every angle”, Dougherty said.
