The number of drug overdoses in Beaver County skyrocketed in 2017, but the number of deaths related to drug overdoses dropped significantly, officials said.
District Attorney David Lozier said an analysis of data from the county’s 911 center showed that there was a 40 percent increase in the number of overdoses reported in the county, but approximately a 25 percent drop in the number of deaths compared to 2016.
“Thank God for Narcan,” Lozier said of the opioid-reversal drug carried by first responders. “The wider distribution of Narcan can be said to have saved about 65 Beaver County lives.”
Toxicology reports aren’t in on all of the suspected overdose deaths for 2017, Lozier said, but the coroner’s office estimates that there were between 75 and 79 overdose-related deaths in 2017. Lozier said that, without Narcan, there would have been about 143 deaths.
That would have been a marked spike from 2016, when there were 102 drug-related overdose deaths in the county.
In total, there were 1,300 overdoses in the county in 2016 and 2017, Lozier said.
Lozier lauded local law enforcement agencies for their work in cracking down on drug dealers last year. His office has pushed for stiffer penalties for those caught dealing heroin and fentanyl, particularly those who sell drugs that result in death. Lozier said that he wants to see more treatment options for those who are fighting the disease of addiction.
“Those 1,300 overdoses, that includes some duplicates, some deaths,” Lozier said. “Almost 100 percent of those people have a spouse, a child, or people who care about them.”