Accidental overdoses killed 8 people a day in Ohio last year

Kasich spoke Thursday to a special regional judicial summit on opioids in Cincinnati involving officials from nine states.

Accidental overdose deaths increased in the state by more than 500 in one year – from 2,531 in 2014 to 3,050 in 2015, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

“The fentanyl is most definitely an issue”, Auglaize County Sheriff Al Solomon said. OH has increased funding to purchase naloxone for first responders.

Painkillers containing illegally made fentanyl, a synthetic drug up to 100 times more potent than morphine, are responsible for a surge in overdose deaths in the United States, health authorities said Thursday. That number doubled the 503 deaths recorded in 2014 and represents a rapid increase from just 75 deaths in 2012.

According to the Associated Press, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia were among the five states with the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in 2014. Fentanyl-related deaths in OH spiked 13-fold from 2013 to 2015.

She attributes the declining number of opiates dispensed to Ohio patients to efforts to reduce the prescription pill supply; increased law enforcement; empowering prescribers and pharmacists to use Ohio’s prescription drug-monitoring system, the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System; and working with medical professionals to establish opioid prescribing guidelines for chronic and acute pain.

This year in California, fentanyl was passed off as the prescription drug Norco and sold on the street.

“There were 81 million fewer opioid doses dispensed to OH patients since the state took initiatives to curb opiates, and the number of people who try to get controlled substances from multiple doctors has dramatically decreased”.

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 state expanded access to naloxone previous year by permitting pharmacies to sell it over-the-counter.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic narcotic that users are mixing with heroin, was a big driver of the increase, accounting for 1,155 unintentional overdose deaths past year, up from 503 in 2014 and 84 in ’13. The government has advocated the expanded use of naloxone, an antidote to opioid drugs, as well as expanding the use of addiction treatment that includes medications.

The number of drugs containing fentanyl seized by law enforcement jumped 426 percent from 2013 to 2014, and then nearly tripled from 2014 to 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Despite all those factors, Kasich said he feels like the state is on the right track in tackling the problem.

Other plans will support local drug task forces and step up drug-seizure efforts.

They are also expanding a public awareness campaign and an addiction treatment program made available through drug courts.

More than one dose of naloxone is often used to revive victims.

Law enforcement officers report that some people trying to buy heroin end up with the drug mixed with the stronger fentanyl and some even get straight fentanyl, causing severe reactions.