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Attorney General Mike DeWine
Drug Threat
‘Unprecedented’ says National Forensic Group
Ohio’s Crime Lab Stats Mirror Trends
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Today Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Office
released preliminary numbers of drug cases that the Ohio Bureau of
Criminal Investigation (BCI) has received to date in 2017. This follows
the recent release by the American Society of Crime Laboratory
Directors (ASCLD) about the dangers of opioids and the severity of the
opioid issue nationwide.
“We continue to see more cases of fentanyl, fentanyl related compounds,
and carfentanil in our crime lab, and the drug submissions by law
enforcement are increasingly more complex and deadly,” said Ohio
Attorney General Mike DeWine.
So far in 2017, the number of confirmed carfentanil submissions has
nearly quadrupled. There has been a 380% increase in submissions
of confirmed carfentanil compared to all of 2016. Additionally, there
has been a 46% increase in fentanyl and fentanyl related compounds
submitted so far this year from last year. While heroin submissions are
down versus 2016, the number of confirmed heroin submissions in 2017
(3890) is still greater than when Attorney General DeWine was elected
in 2010 (2378).
ASCLD recently issued an urgent public alert recently regarding the
dangers posed by drugs currently circulating America’s streets and
neighborhoods due to the ongoing opioid crisis. ASCLD issued the
following national data to highlight the issue that crime labs face
across the country (94% of which report data to ASCLD):
In the first six months of 2017, there was a 19% increase in opioid
submissions to crime labs as compared to all of 2016.
In 2016, there were over 22 different types of fentanyl identified in
crime labs.
2017 has seen a 54% increase in fentanyl cases submitted to crime labs.
Between 2012 and 2016, laboratories have witnessed a 6000% increase in
fentanyl cases. This increase corresponds directly with the overdose
deaths being seen nationwide.
Nationwide, crime labs are seeing testing take longer than in years
past due to the number of cases submitted, the complexity of the cases
and compounds submitted, and the dangerous nature of drugs submitted,
such as fentanyl and carfentanil.
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