Number of unintentional overdose deaths down across Mahoning Valley
Some parts of the Mahoning Valley are on track to see less unintentional fatal overdoses this year.
In 2023, from January to September Mahoning County saw 116 unintentional fatal overdose. In 2024 so far there have been 82. The Mahoning Valley Mental Health and Recovery Board Associate Director Brenda Heidinger said most of those overdoses have involved fentanyl.
“People may think they're only using a stimulant like cocaine or methamphetamine are actually getting fentanyl in their drug supply and they don't have a tolerance,” Heidinger said.
Across the state of Ohio the numbers are trending down as well. Governor Mike DeWine said from 2020 to 2021 overdose deaths dropped 5 % - then from 2021 to 2022 it went down 9%. DeWine said it is the second year in a row the state has performed better than the national average.
“While we celebrate this accomplishment we know that our work is far from over … every overdose death represents a son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, father,” Gov. DeWine said.
Unintentional overdoses are categorized by county corners. If there are no signs of suicide its deems accidental or unintentional.
Trumbull County was seeing lower numbers with 82 unintentional fatal overdoses from January to September in 2023 and 39 in 2024.
However, this month they’ve seen a small spike with 14 unintentional overdoses in October. Lauren Thorp, the Associate Director of the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board said they’ve seen law enforcement doing a good job taking drugs off the street - but it's not enough to combat the pull of addiction.
“Reducing supply doesn't always reduce demand. So people may look to other sources to get the same substances but they don't know the potency," Thorp said.
The Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board uses Narcan pop up sites as a way to try and get numbers down in combination with programs. If a high amount of overdoses happens in one area they’ll set up a booth to make the medication more available to use on someone to reverse an overdose.
Mahoning County previously saw unintentional overdose numbers drop before covid. But when the pandemic hit, it went right back up.
“People weren’t able to get to meetings. People weren’t able to get into treatment as easily,” Heidinger said.
But since covid has subsided, the numbers have gone down once again.
Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board credits the vast amount of programs they offer as a reason for the decrease. One of those programs is the peer recovery program. If someone is admitted to the hospital for a non-fatal overdose a peer who has dealt with drug issues can speak to the patient at their bedside about the options they have.
“[It] takes some of that fear out of the way and hopefully be able to convince a person who’s had a non-fatal overdose to get into treatment and find some recovery before they have an unintentional fatal,” Heidinger said.
Anyone struggling with drug addictions can get help by calling 211.