New Statistics on Ohio Drug Overdoses Released
The Ohio Department of Health just released a report detailing data on drug overdoses that summarizes statewide data from the year 2018. Among the findings: a third of the 3,764 deaths reported were concentrated in three counties: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton. However, small metropolitan counties like Allen, Belmont, Clark, Jefferson, and Richland witnessed the highest overdose fatality rate — 42.1 deaths per 100,000 population — even though a majority of the overdose fatalities were concentrated in the state’s largest urban counties. While white men were the most likely to die from a drug overdose, the report also found that black men died of overdoses at higher rates than white men in small metro counties.
To learn more about Ohio’s policy response to the addiction crisis, and for additional information, see the Health Policy Institute of Ohio’s Addiction Evidence Project.
