CLEVELAND — New numbers show overdose numbers trending in the right direction and Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson is cautiously optimistic.
Looking at the current drug overdose numbers for the county, the numbers are down compared to last year and if the projections hold, it might be the first time in a decade where we have fewer than 500 overdose deaths.
"While it's certainly not jump for joy news, it is progress because we've consistently been over 600," Gilson said.
Since the opioid epidemic began the worst year for overdose deaths in Cuyahoga County was 2017 when there were 727 deaths. Fentanyl became a major player in the drug supply chain in Northeast Ohio beginning in 2015 and that's when overdose deaths began to skyrocket.
So why are the numbers trending downward?
Gilson reached out to law enforcement partners and found that the number of fentanyl seizures, meaning buys and busts on the street went down almost 50% and that surprised him.
The FEND Off Fentanyl Act became law earlier this year, and cracks down on criminal organizations, from chemical suppliers in China to the Mexican cartels, by targeting their financial assets.
While the law will certainly help, the trend began before it took effect.
Carole Negus, RN is the Director of Nursing at Stella Maris Inc., addiction treatment center. She attributes the drop to the years of education and awareness efforts as well as the multitude of centers that are passing out naloxone and fentanyl testing strips.
She also is seeing a shift in addiction.
"In 2023 we started tp see an increase in alcohol and then in 2024 for the first time ever, alcohol use disorder has surpassed opiate use disorder coming through the door into detox," Negus said.
What's more concerning is she's starting to see a mix.
"I've been doing this for a long time and I know all the trends and if you were a heroin user, you didn't drink alcohol and if you were an opiate user, you weren't an alcoholic, the two did not mix, now I have about 10 to 15% of the clients coming through the door that are using both," Negus said.
As for who is still overdosing, she thinks it's the people who had no intention of buying fentanyl.
"We have cocaine and meth users testing positive for fentanyl, because everything is cut with everything these days and there's no safe drugs on the street," she said. "The person using fentanyl is not going to use alone, they're going to test their drug, they're going to have naloxone, the person using cocaine is more likely who is overdosing and dying."