Washington News Bureau

Heroin overdose deaths spike in Pennsylvania, nationwide

By Jacqueline Fell, CMG Washington News Bureau and Cox Media Group Washington News Bureau
By Jacqueline Fell, CMG Washington News Bureau and Cox Media Group Washington News Bureau

WASHINGTON — The number of people dying from heroin overdoses has tripled since 2010, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
 
In 2015, more than 52,000 people died from drug overdoses nationwide. 

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf previously said heroin and opioid overdoses are now Pennsylvania's leading cause of accidental deaths. More than 2,300 opioid overdoses have been reversed by first responders in Pennsylvania from November 2014 to January 2017.

Overdose deaths involving fentanyl and tramadol also increased, according to data from 2015 which is the latest year available.

Hundreds of people died from opioid overdoses in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Beaver, Butler, and Fayette counties in 2016.

"The recent heroin use, it's so much stronger than it ever was before," Detective Brian Kohlhepp of the Ross Township Police Department previously told Channel 11 News.

Katherine Gallagher Robbins with the Center for American Progress said the impact of the epidemic stretches past those who are struggling with addiction, with dire consequences for families, communities and the economy.
 
“It’s in every corner of this country,” says Robbins. “We need to think of this and all drug addiction as a public health crisis.”
 
According to the report, the four states with the highest drug overdose rates in 2015 were West Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio.  
 
Robbins said rural communities are hardest hit.  Deaths increased in all age groups, with adults aged 45 to 54 having the highest drug overdose death rate.  Deaths also increased across all races and ethnicities.
 
President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail addicts would get the services they need. Robbins criticized GOP priorities laid out so far this year that she said could do more harm than good.
 
“I think if we don't address things now we are looking at some really dark things coming in the future,” says Robbins.
 
The data in the report shows fewer people died in 2015 from taking powerful and addictive opioid drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone.

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