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The Pennsylvania Coroner’s Association reported Friday that 2,488 Pennsylvania residents died from drug overdoses in 2014, with more likely to be added as counties complete their reporting requirements.
“That’s seven people every day from drug deaths. That’s a huge problem,” said attorney Susan Shanaman, who serves as solicitor for the association and who prepared the report.
Some counties were still investigating suspected overdose deaths when the local coroners sent their reports to the association, meaning it’s likely even more overdose deaths in 2014 haven’t been confirmed.
And, the report reflects the numbers in only 54 of the state’s 67 counties.
Many of the coroners who did not yet send in reports work in counties with relatively small populations, such as Somerset, Fulton and Juniata, but at least two counties that did not yet report, Montgomery and Schuykill, have substantial population figures.
According to the report, Blair County had 21 overdose deaths in 2014.
Cambria County reported 37 overdose death, and Centre reported 18 deaths.
Clearfield had 15 deaths, while Bedford and Huntingdon counties reported less than 10 deaths each.
While Blair County Coroner Patricia Ross was not available for comment Friday, she said earlier this year Blair County’s overdose deaths had dropped from 27 reported in 2013.
Ross and the state’s other coroners were required to file autopsy summaries in their respective courthouses by Jan. 31 of this year.
In talking about the numbers in early February, Ross said Blair’s overdose death numbers had dropped, as was the case in many of Pennsylvania’s counties, because of the combined effort in the community by the courts, the drug task force and social agencies to address the problem.
She said police have been “hitting, hitting, hitting” drug dealers who get long sentences through the courts.
Blair’s courts also focus on treatment for those who are addicted through three different drug courts that work to provide treatment in conjunction with numerous agencies.
Cambria County’s 37 deaths represented a drop from 51 the year before, while Westmoreland County’s drug overdoses jumped to a record high of 87 in 2014.
The report released by Shanaman was the first ever such report prepared by the association.
She said two years ago, the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee asked the association to put together a report that encompassed heroin overdose deaths.
Since then, the state’s coroners are required to fill out a form for each drug overdose death and send it to the state.
Shanaman used those reports to compile her extensive report involving all overdose deaths.
Blair County statistics, the report stated, showed 71 percent of the overdose deaths were male. Referring to the ages of those who died in Blair, 48 percent were between 31 and 40 years old, and 33 percent were older than 61. Nine percent were under 19, and 10 percent were between 51 and 60.
By far the largest killer was opioids or painkillers at 20 percent, followed by Benzodiazepines (14 percent) antidepressants (13 percent) and antihistamines (8 percent).
Forty-five percent of the deaths were caused by illegal drugs.
In Cambria County, 57 percent of the deaths involved males, with 34 percent of the victims between the ages of 41-50.
Forty-one percent of the deaths in Cambria were caused by illegal drugs while 22 percent stemmed from antidepressants, and 14 percent were from Benzodiazepines.
The Philadelphia area led the state in overdose deaths, with 611 in Philadelphia, 149 in Delaware County, 205 in Bucks County and 82 in Chester County. Montgomery County did not report its numbers.
Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, reported 303 deaths.
Shanaman said the association’s report has already been sent to the General Assembly, and, she said, Pennsylvania is already reacting to the large numbers.
Narcan, a spray that can reverse potentially fatal opioiod overdoses, can now be distributed to law enforcement, EMTs and others.
A prescription monitoring program has gone into effect to alert druggists and authorities to excessive distribution of prescription drugs, Shanaman said.
Many of those who died were victims of multidrug abuse. The report does not include deaths that were natural, even though the victim may have had a number of drugs in his or her system.
Mirror Staff writer Phil Ray can be reached at 946-7468.