Mar 3, 2015 2 min read

The number of reported drug overdose deaths in Washington County declined last year as state law enforcement officials declared heroin and prescription drug addiction the biggest problem facing police officers.

There were 36 such deaths in the county in 2014, dropping from the previous year’s figure of 58, a number that alarmed police and drug and alcohol specialists, according to the annual report of Washington County Coroner Tim Warco.

“That’s good news,” Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone said. “We still have to keep working on bringing that number down.”

Vittone said his office worked to educate the public about the drug problem, and he said “more addicts are reaching out for help.”

“I think there’s a lot more knowledge of the problems with heroin and prescription drugs,” he said.

He said his office also has been aggressive in prosecuting drug cases, and health-care professionals have been doing a better job with monitoring prescription drug abuse.

Drug-related overdose deaths have quadrupled in Pennsylvania, which had the seventh-highest number of them among U.S. states last year.

U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton in Pittsburgh last year convened a task force, bringing community members, police, physicians and other stakeholders to the table to address the epidemic that didn’t exist three decades ago. The committee concluded physicians needed to be better educated about the problem because drug treatment centers have been at capacity.

Eleven of the overdose deaths last year involved the use of oxycodone or oxymorphone, while nine of them were heroin-related, Warco’s report states.

Meanwhile, there were eight homicides in the county, the highest number since 2003. There were 28 suicides and 13 highway fatalities last year in the county.