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Drug-related deaths in Virginia continue to rise, but are projected to do so at a slower rate for 2017, according to a Virginia Department of Health report.
The report projects 1,498 deaths from drug overdoses for the year through the end of 2017, a 5 percent increase from the previous year.
If that estimate holds, it would be 70 more overdose deaths than were recorded in 2016, when there were 1,428 reported in the state. That’s too many, but it is a marked slowdown in a surge in fatal overdoses reported since 2012, and far less of an increase than the 39 percent rise that occurred in 2016 from 2015 (1,028 fatalities), according to the Fatal Drug Overdose Quarterly Report from the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The report was updated in October.
Richmond City Health District Director Danny Avula says that efforts to make Naloxone more widely available may be paying off. He notes that Richmond Ambulance Authority is on track to deliver more than 1,000 doses of the overdose-reversing drug this year, compared with less than 500 in 2016.
“People know that there is an antidote out there,” he says. “[We’re] delivering Naloxone at much higher rates, which is saving people from dying.”
There’s also been a slight decline in emergency room visits for drug overdoses in the current year, according to Avula. Through September, the state reports declines in five of nine months in 2017 compared with monthly totals from the previous year.
Overdoses kill more people in Virginia each year than vehicles or guns. Gun-related deaths are projected to drop from 1,057 reported in 2016 to 983 through year’s end. Crash-related deaths are projected to remain about the same; 890 in 2016, and 888 through year’s end.
Heroin and other illicit opioids account for most of the overdose deaths. Overdoses from prescription opioids have held steady between 2007-16; overdose deaths from fentanyl rose 176.4 percent between 2015 (225 deaths) and 2016 (622 deaths). Prescription opioids account for a higher death rate in rural areas of the state, while illicit opioids kill more in Richmond and other urban areas.
The state has responded to the opioid crisis with a series of initiatives, including revised training and setting up mechanisms to get Naloxone to users and their friends and family members. Avula notes that the local district has been involved in a series of training sessions and getting Naloxone out in the community where it’s needed, based on where the calls are coming in for ambulance service to overdoses.
Also, fewer prescription medications are reaching the street sincer the state changed regulations on how they are dispensed, according to Dr. Samuel Hughes Melton, chief deputy commissioner of health for the Virginia Department of Health.
The state reports about a 35 percent decline in doses dispensed of pain relievers from the fourth quarter of 2016 through the third quarter of 2017.
He says there is cause for some cautious optimism, "The data clearly shows a change in prescribing patterns in the state in a number of different ways," he says.
Deaths from prescription opioids are projected to be at about the same level for 2017 as occurred in 2016.
The slowdown is encouraging, but concerted efforts need to continue, according to Avula. He notes that it takes a multi-front approach including medication and behavior therapy, but that many people struggling with addiction “have no desire or the ability to enter into that therapy.”
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Image courtesy Virginia Department of Health
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Image courtesy Virginia Department of Health
HEALTHY DEVELOPMENTS
A roundup of the week’s health and medicine news
- A noncredit addiction studies continuing education program is now available through Virginia Commonwealth University. The interdisciplinary program’s courses are designed for health counselors and care providers, law and education professionals, and anyone who may have been affected by addiction, according to a report.
- The Goochland Free Clinic and Family Services marks its 10th anniversary with Building Bridges of Hope events at 8 a.m. and at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at Hope Church, 12445 Patterson Ave. The events will include an educational presentation.
- Research at Virginia Commonwealth University to identify medical countermeasures against potential terrorist attacks involving chemicals has earned $4.2 million in grants over five years from the National Institutes of Health. The five-year grant will fund work by the lead investigator, Robert DeLorenzo, the George Bliley professor of neurology in the medical school, and a team of researchers, according to a release. DeLorenzo says the team will seek to develop counteractive agents that can be stockpiled and used in the event of an attack.
- A behavioral health military annex will soon be available to service members and their dependents at John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell. The HCA Virginia facility has added an eight-bed unit dedicated to those serving in the military and their family members who are in need of treatment for behavioral health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or stress, according to a release. A dedication ceremony will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the facility, 411 W. Randolph Road.
- A Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU asthma education program has earned a two-year, $250,000 grant from Kohl’s. The grant will help expand the You Can Control Asthma Now program, which is designed to help children take control of their asthma and lead ordinary lives.
