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Updated: 5:01 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 | Posted: 1:06 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, 2015
Overdoses top killer in investigated cases
By http://www.journal-news.com/staff/rick-mccrabb/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer
BUTLER COUNTY —
For the first time in the last 35 years —
since these statistics were kept — natural deaths were not the leading cause of
death among cases investigated by the Butler County Coroner’s Office, according
to data released Friday by the coroner.
Drug overdoses overtook natural causes as
the No. 1 cause of death in the 400 cases accepted by the coroner’s office in
2014, said Dr. Lisa Mannix, Butler
County coroner. She said
there were 137 drug overdoses in the county in 2014, one more death than
natural cause deaths. Of those drug deaths, 103, or 75 percent, were caused by
heroin use, she said. The year before, the county reported 118 drug deaths and
60 of them, or 51 percent, were heroin related, Mannix said.
Butler
County also saw 46
suicides, 22 motor vehicle traffic fatalities, 33 other fatal accidents, 16
undetermined deaths and 10 homicides last year, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Warren County
reported a slight drop in the number of heroin-related deaths last year
compared to 2013. In Warren
County, there were 42
drug deaths investigated by the coroner’s office and 14 of them, or 33 percent,
were heroin overdoses. But A. Doyle Burke,
chief investigator, said seven more potential heroin deaths are pending. There
were 16 heroin overdoses in Warren
in 2013 and 11 in 2012, according to statistics from the county.
In response to what has been called “a
heroin epidemic” in Butler County, three heroin summits have been scheduled at Atrium Medical
Center in Middletown and the second of those is Monday.
The first summit attracted about 40 people, representing a cross section of the
community.
Middletown City Manager Doug Adkins said
heroin killed 49 people in the city last year and strained the city’s public
safety budget. He said Middletown
spent $1.5 million in 2014 dealing with the affects of heroin.
The initial summit was the first of “many
steps” to define the problem, look at root causes, and discuss what options
should be explored in education, intervention, treatment, and recovery, he
said.
Adkins was told that some people have said
there is no way to control heroin’s grip on the city. Adkins said Middletown must try to
reverse the recent trend.
“There is nothing to be lost and everything
to be gained by trying to deal with the problem proactively,” he said. “Even
partial success saves lives, reduces crime and reduces taxpayer expenses.”
DeAnna
Shores, from the Safety
Council of Southwest Ohio, added: “I know that it may feel like too big of an
issue to wrap our arms around, but if we can get people to start small with
prevention in their homes, businesses, churches and schools, then every meeting
mattered.”
The city spent $1.3 million in 2014 for the
police department, Adkins said, including patrols, special operations by the
narcotics unit and jail corrections; $167,000 by the fire department; and more
than over $18,000 for indigent burials of drug overdose deaths.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser has
estimated that 85 percent of the cases he sees are related to drugs, and
Middletown Municipal Court Judge Mark Wall said about 50 percent of court cases
are connected to heroin, either because the person used the drug or stole to
support their drug habit.
Jackie Phillips, Middletown health director, said the key to
reducing heroin addiction, or any health risk, is education and the earlier it
starts the better.
“We have a lot of passion, we have a lot of
resources, we have a lot of love for our city and its residents and that we
will not stop until everyone is as healthy as they can possibly be,” she said.
In response to the community’s need, one Middletown church is hosting a “Power Lunch” every
Wednesday, starting March 4, in hopes of reducing the stronghold heroin has on
the city, said Lamar Ferrell, pastor of Berachah Church.
He said the the “Power Lunch” (Launching
Unified Neighborhood Community Healing) will be a time for area residents to
pray for those impacted by what has been called a heroin epidemic in Middletown
and throughout Butler County.
The lunches will be held at noon every
Wednesday at the former Verity
School property, 1900 Johns Road.
Berachah recently purchased the school and the property for $293,000 from the
Middletown City Schools District. He said the lunches will be held
indefinitely.
“We want to see a marked difference within
one year,” Ferrell said.
Every week, he said, a different Middletown neighborhood
will be highlighted, and clergy from that area will be asked to lead the prayer.
He said the events will last about 15 minutes.
HEROIN ARRESTS
The
number of heroin related arrests by the Butler County Sheriff’s Office has
dropped the past two years after a record high in 2012.
2005:
19
2006:
24
2007:
25
2008:
52
2009:
117
2010:
96
2011:
137
2012:
233
2013:
149
2014:
142
SOURCE: Butler County Sheriff’s Office
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