Jul 28, 2017 2 min read

The rising number of drug-related overdose deaths in Washington and Greene counties last year mirrored a continuing statewide trend.

Those figures are outlined in a report released Thursday by the Philadelphia Field Division of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, prepared with the help of the Program Evaluation Research Unit at the University of Pittsburgh.

Overdose deaths have surged during the nationwide opioid epidemic since the 1990s, and the federal officials said working with PERU allowed them to expand the scope of their analysis compared to reports in previous years.

Researchers put the statewide number of reported fatal overdoses last year at 4,642 – 85 percent of them involving opioids, either illicit or prescribed by physicians – based on data collected from coroners and medical examiners in 64 of 67 counties. That figure represents a 37 percent increase from 2015, when there were reportedly 3,376 such deaths.

Reported drug-related deaths rose by 45 percent in Washington County, from 73 two years ago to 106 in 2016.

In Greene, meanwhile, reported overdose deaths rose from 14 to 19 over the same period, a 35 percent increase.

The fatality rates per 100,000 people in Washington and Greene counties last year were 51 and 49, respectively. The statewide rate is 36.5.

Researchers noted a “significant increase” in the number of deaths involving fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances – highly potent synthetic opioids often used to lace heroin and other street drugs.

Fentanyl was the most commonly detected drug in overdose cases, followed by heroin, in both Greene and Washington.

Of the five counties with the highest numbers of deaths where fentanyl was detected, all were in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including Washington, Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.