Ohio's drug overdose crisis is particularly bad

SANDUSKY — You've seen the news reports on drug overdose deaths, and the picture they paint is an accurate one. Ohio has a high rate of deaths due to drug overdoses.Ohio ranked as the eighth-worst state in the U.S. for drug deaths from 2011 to 2015, according to a report at americashealthrankings.org, a site run by the United Health Foundation. Another survey, by the federal government's Centers for Disease Control, put Ohio in fifth place in 2014.Ohio had 18.9 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the United Health Foundation report. The national rate is 13.5.West Virginia had the worst rate, followed by New Mexico, Kentucky, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Ohio.The lowest drug overdose death rate was recorded in North Dakota, followed by South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.The Centers for Disease Control issued a study on Jan. 1 of this year, "Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths — United States, 2000–2014." It also paints a dire picture of Ohio, putting the state in fifth place in drug overdose deaths."In 2014, the five states with the highest rates of drug overdose deaths were West Virginia (35.5 deaths per 100,000), New Mexico (27.3), New Hampshire (26.2), Kentucky (24.7) and Ohio (24.6)," the report says.The CDC report said that 14 states had significant increases in the rate of drug overdose deaths from 2013 to 2014. Ohio was one of them.Ohio's state health department reported on Sept. 24, 2015, that drug overdose deaths had increased from 2,110 in 2013 to 2,482 in 2014.Health department officials said that in addition to heroin, Ohio has a particular problem with overdose deaths linked to fentanyl, a very lethal and potent painkiller. Ohio has 502 fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 2014, they said.Economist Scott Sumner, writing on the EconLog economics blog in a posting on Feb. 19, 2016, "Drug overdose deaths: It's not just economics," discussed the americashealthranking.org statistics and noted that there does seem to be some connection between the rate of drug overdose deaths and the condition of a state's economy."If you look at the data on state fatality rates from drug overdoses for 2015, you do see some of the expected pattern. Booming North Dakota had by far the lowest rate, and depressed West Virginia had by far the highest rate. But after that things seem less predictable," Sumner wrote.He noted in his blog post that New Hampshire is one of the richest states in the country, as measured by median income, but that it has a relatively high overdose rate (no. 19 among the 50 states.) Utah ranks as the 11th richest state but has one of the worst drug overdose rates in the country (at No. 5).Another clue on the difference between overdose death rates in the states is given by the CDC, which noted in a 2014 report that states vary widely in the number of prescriptions written for painkilling drugs."Health care providers in the highest prescribing state, Alabama, wrote almost three times as many of these prescriptions per person as those in the lowest prescribing state, Hawaii. Most of the highest prescribing states were in the South. Previous research has shown that regional variation in use of prescriptions cannot be explained by the underlying health status of the population," a CDC website says.The CDC report was accompanied by a graphic showing that 13 states had particularly high rates of prescriptions for painkillers. While most of those states were in the southern U.S., the 13 also included Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia and Indiana.According to the federal government's Centers for Disease Control, opioids killed more than 28,000 people in 2014, including deaths both from heroin and prescription painkillers.It is probably worth noting that alcohol-related deaths remain significant, both in Ohio and nationally.According to the CDC, alcohol deaths continue to outnumber opioid deaths nationally."Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) each year in the United States from 2006 – 2010, shortening the lives of those who died by an average of 30 years," according to a CDC fact sheet.According to state health department statistics, Ohio had 871 deaths in 2014 caused by diseases induced by alcohol, including 8 in Erie County, 1 in Huron County, 3 in Ottawa County and 5 in Sandusky County. The same year, Ohio recorded 427 deaths by alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.The CDC says excessive alcohol use is linked to diseases such as cirrhosis and pancreatitis, many kinds of cancer, high blood pressure, many motor vehicle traffic accidents, many incidents of violence and other undesirable outcomes.Worst drug overdose rates, by state, 2011-20151. West Virginia2. New Mexico3. Kentucky4. Nevada5. Utah6. Oklahoma7. Rhode Island8. Ohio9. Pennsylvania10. Arizona11. Tennessee12. Delaware13. Missouri14. Wyoming15. Colorado16. Indiana17. Alaska18. Michigan19. New Hampshire20. Louisiana21. Washington22. Florida23. Massachusetts24. Maryland25. Montana26. Connecticut27. New Jersey28. Wisconsin29. North Carolina30. South Carolina31. Vermont32. Idaho33. Oregon34. Arkansas35. Alabama36. Illinois37. Maine38. Hawaii39. California40. Kansas41. Georgia42. Mississippi43. New York44. Texas45. Virginia46. Minnesota47. Iowa48. Nebraska49. South Dakota50. North DakotaSource: Americashealthrankings.org.Drug overdose deaths jumped in Ohio from 2013 to 2014. Ohio was singled out in 2014 as a state where many prescriptions for painkillers are written. In this Monday, May 6, 2013 file photo, a drug addict prepares a needle to inject himself with heroin in front of a church in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. It's not a rare scene on Skid Row to spot addicts using drugs in the open, even when police patrol the area. Jim Hall, an epidemiologist who studies substance abuse at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. says, the striking thing about heroins most recent incarnation in the early 21st Century, is that a drug that was once largely confined to major cities is spreading into suburban and rural towns across America, where it is used predominantly by young adults between the ages of 18 and 29. "We havent really seen something this rapid since probably the spread of cocaine and crack in the mid-1980s," Hall said. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)