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Attorney General Mike DeWine
Fentanyl Cases
and Deaths Increase in Ohio
Prince’s Death from “Self-Administered Fentanyl” Raises Awareness about
Painkiller
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)— Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine continues to
caution Ohioans about the powerful drug fentanyl after Prince’s autopsy
reveals the artist’s cause of death was “self-administered fentanyl.”
“We’ve seen what’s coming into the Bureau of Criminal Investigation
(BCI) Lab, as far as drug submissions from law enforcement around the
state, and statistics show how dramatically fentanyl is on the rise in
Ohio,” said Attorney General Mike DeWine. “In 2010, we had only
34 cases of fentanyl and last year we had 1,110 cases. We’re on
track this year to surpass 2015 numbers.”
BCI Labs in Ohio (London, Richfield, and Bowling Green) are seeing
mostly synthetic (as opposed to prescription) fentanyl, which first
appeared in 2013 in Ohio. It’s 30 to 50 times stronger than
heroin, according to the National Institute for Drug Abuse. Sometimes
it’s cut with other substances, like cocaine or heroin. Heroin is
still the number one drug that’s brought to the BCI Lab for testing in
criminal cases, however the number of heroin cases overall are
declining, while fentanyl case numbers continue to rise.
Ohio coroners are also seeing deadly and startling results from
fentanyl’s impact:
Franklin County: In Franklin County, there were 13 fentanyl-related
deaths in 2014, 48 in 2015, and 16 deaths in the first quarter of 2016.
(Source: Franklin County Coroner’s Office)
Cuyahoga County: In Cuyahoga County in 2016, there were 19
fentanyl-related deaths in January, 24 in February, 34 in March, 26 in
April, and 37 in May. (Source: Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office)
Montgomery County: Montgomery County reported fentanyl was
present in 46 accidental overdose deaths in January and February of
this year. There were 128 deaths in 2015. (Source: Montgomery County
Coroner’s Office)
“This opiate epidemic is the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime,” said
DeWine. “We can’t continue to lose three to four people a day to opiate
overdoses. Fentanyl is the latest substance to rise to the top of
the alarming drug trend in our state.”
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine created a Heroin Unit in 2013, which
helps local law enforcement agencies with investigations and
prosecutions. It also includes Heroin Unit Outreach Specialists
who help communities combat the opiate problem. In addition, much
training is provided to law enforcement on different topics like how to
treat overdose scenes as crime scenes and how to administer the drug
naloxone in overdose situations. BCI agents and forensic
scientists just sponsored a Fentanyl Investigation and Awareness
Training day for law enforcement with the DEA on June 1,
2016.
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