Overdose deaths dropped in 2018, ODH data shows

The number of Ohioans who died from unintentional drug overdoses declined by 22.7% in 2018 -- the first decrease since 2009 and a possible sign the worst of the opioid epidemic may be over, according to Ohio Department of Health data (Source: “Ohio drug overdose deaths decrease in 2018, first drop in a decade,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 14, 2020).

According to an Ohio Department of Health report, 3,764 Ohioans died from unintentional drug overdoses in 2018. The number of overdose deaths in Ohio increased in each of the previous nine years, going from 1,423 in 2009 to 4,854 in 2017.

“These are the most encouraging (numbers) we’ve had in 11 years,” said Dr. Mark Hurst, the Ohio Department of Health’s medical director, a physician who is board-certified in psychiatry and addiction psychiatry.

Nevertheless, more than 10 Ohioans died per day in 2018. “It tells us our work is far from done,” Hurst said. “It tells us we can’t take our foot off the gas.”

For the second year, black non-Hispanic men had the highest drug overdose death rates compared to other sex and race/ethnicity groups. Prior to 2017, the last time the demographic had the highest overdose death rate was in 2008. Black, non-Hispanic women, on the other hand, had the lowest overdose death rates.