COLUMBUS (WCMH) – The Franklin County Coroner’s Office released preliminary overdose death data for the first nine months of 2016.
Between January 1, 2016 and September 31, 2016, the coroner’s office reported 244 overdose deaths in Franklin County. Of those, 80% of were opiate related.
Further:
- 85% of fatal overdose victims were Caucasian; this is consistent with previous years
- 71% of overdose deaths were male.
- 56 of these were due to fentanyl
- 6 of these were due to carfentanil
The Coroner’s office said the four areas with the highest numbers of overdose deaths are:
- South Columbus (43207)
- Hilltop (43204)
- West Columbus/Franklin Township (43228)
- Southeast Columbus (43232)
The results so far have the county positioned to surpass previous years in numbers of opiate-related overdoses. In all of 2015, 321 people died in Franklin County from drug overdoses.