Drug overdose deaths down slightly

BY TIMOTHY LA ROCHE
[email protected]
CLAREMONT — As state officials continue to compile drug usage data from the last year, recent reports project a slight decrease in the number of overdose deaths across the state.

With the release of the latest report from the New Hampshire Drug Monitoring Initiative, a project from the New Hampshire Department of State that tracks drug overdose data, figures show that the number of drug-related overdose deaths saw a slight decrease in the last year.

In 2017, the state recorded 35.78 overdose deaths per 100,000 people, a reduction from the peak of the opioid crisis in 2016, when the state recorded 36.46 overdose deaths per 100,000 people. Final counts are pending, with 63  toxicology reports still due.

“At this time, drug overdose deaths are expected to decrease by two percent from 2016 to 2017,” the report states.

Sullivan County saw the smallest rate of drug overdose deaths in 2017, with 0.91 overdose deaths per 10,000 people. Hillsborough County – home to the state’s largest city, Manchester – saw the highest overdose death rate at 3.91 deaths per 10,000 people.

Despite the decrease, projections peg the year-end total as the second highest for overdose deaths since at least 2010. Between 2013 and 2014, the number of overdose deaths spiked from 14.51 per 100,000 people to 25.03 per 100,000 people. Again in 2015, the overdose death rate rose to 33 per 100,000 people before the epidemic reached its peak in 2016.

While cocaine-related deaths remained nearly constant since 2010, fentanyl-related deaths saw the greatest increases. The drug is a synthetic opioid that binds to receptors in the brain to produce pain-killing and euphoric effects up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl is lethal at doses as small as two milligrams – the equivalent of a few grains of salt.

In 2017, the project recorded 166 overdose deaths from fentanyl alone and another 81 overdose deaths from a combination of drugs including fentanyl.

At least 12 deaths in 2017 were linked to an even stronger synthetic opioid – carfentanil – which was developed for use in elephant tranquilizers. Carfentanil is estimated to be 10,000 times as strong as morphine. The lethal dosage in humans is unknown due to its strength, leading to the World Health Organization’s recommendations that the overdose reversing drug naloxone be on-hand anytime carfentanil is used even in laboratory conditions.

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