More residents in Athens County die from drug overdoses than those in other parts of Ohio do, recently released data shows.
An Ohio Department of Health study released in April found that more people accidentally died at the hands of drugs in 2011 than ever before — with Athens County amongst the deadliest counties in the state.
There were 12 residents who died from accidental overdoses in Athens County that year. Stacked up against Ohio’s other 88 counties for age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 residents, Athens County was the 12th deadliest, according to the study.
Some other southern Ohio counties proved to be even deadlier.
Hocking County and Jackson County ranked 9th and 10th, respectively. Scioto County ranked the worst-off.
Prescription drug abuse hasn’t always been in the culture of the region, Athens County Health Commissioner Dr. James Gaskell said, adding that economic downturn and an uptick in mental health problems have increased interest in drug use in the past 10 years.
“When the economy is way down people use way more opioids than they do when it’s better,” Gaskell said. “I think the reason people use drugs, though, is complicated and I think there are mental health issues that influence.”
Though Ohio as a whole has more drug-related deaths than ever before, the health department is now focusing much of its efforts on these southeastern counties, state officials have said.
In the meantime — between the state finding a problem with its study and deciding the best plan of action to address Ohio’s high drug-overdose deaths — Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly said abstinence education is the best shot the county has to combat opioid use; however, state and local budget cuts have caused more of those types of programs to disappear, Kelly added.
“We’ve reduced the number of users dramatically, but when budgets were cut back and less money went to health services, we saw an increase in these deaths,” he said. “We need to focus on treating the offenders for those who are addicted.”
sh335311@ohiou.edu
