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Attorney General Mike DeWine
Overdose
Prevention Task Force Issues Recommendations
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today
the recommendations issued by the Overdose Prevention Task Force, which
was formed by Attorney General DeWine last year to address issues
regarding the real-time reporting of drug overdose deaths in Ohio.
Attorney General DeWine created the task force, which was chaired by
Montgomery County Coroner and Ohio State Coroners Association Chief
Forensic Officer Kent Harshbarger, M.D., after efforts by the Attorney
General's Office to gather up-to-date statewide statistics on heroin
overdose deaths revealed that Ohio lacks a standard protocol for
classifying drug overdose fatalities. There is also no method in
place to publicly obtain up-to-date overdose death statistics.
In addition to reviewing the methods in place for collecting overdose
death data, the task force also examined the value of non-fatal
overdose data and other data sources that could be utilized to prevent
overdose deaths.
The task force issued the following recommendations:
Make drug overdose death data available in online
Ohio Public Health Data Warehouse: The task force recommends that
the Ohio Department of Health continue their efforts, which began in
August 2014, to expand mortality data available in its online Ohio
Public Health Data Warehouse. The forthcoming system will provide
the most recently available data regarding overdoses as causes of death
in Ohio.
Encourage coroners to adopt uniform reporting
practices: In an effort to gather uniform data on deaths caused
by one or more drug, the task force recommends that all coroners
specifically report on death certificates each drug responsible for, or
that interacted to cause death.
Review data collected in current state reporting
systems: The task force recommends further collaboration between
state agencies to determine what additional data the state currently
keeps that could also be used to gain a better understanding of the
drug epidemic for purposes of community and law enforcement awareness
and prevention.
Review EMS and non-fatal overdose data sources: The
task force recommends the study of existing non-fatal overdose data in
an effort to determine how the data can be used to help prevent
overdose deaths.
"Drug addiction, especially heroin addiction, is a problem across this
state, and law enforcement, policy makers, and members of the public
need current information to help them make data-driven decisions on how
to combat this epidemic and save lives," said Attorney General
DeWine. "I applaud the work of this task force to examine the
need for up-to-date data and uniform overdose death reporting, and my
office will continue to collaborate with other agencies to determine
what other data could be useful in this fight."
"Ohio already has a very strong system for reporting overdose deaths,
but I believe these recommendations will make a good system even
better," said Dr. Harshbarger. "With up-to-date data and more
specific overdose death classifications, we can better understand
emerging trends and develop strategies to address them."
The task force included representatives from the Ohio State Coroners
Association, Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, Buckeye State
Sheriffs' Association, Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, and Ohio
Attorney General's Office, with input from the Ohio Department of
Health.
A copy of the full Overdose Prevention Task Force report is available
on the Ohio Attorney General's website.
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