Coroner details record overdose death statistics at Warren Council symposium

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Trumbull County had an apparent record-high 87 deaths from drug overdoses in 2015, and Warren led the way with 32, county Coroner Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk said at a Friday night symposium sponsored by Warren City Council.

Dr. Germaniuk shared newly finalized 2015 statistics that showed Niles and Howland each had 12 deaths, and Liberty and Girard had four. About a dozen other communities had either one or two deaths, including the Trumbull Correctional Institution.

About 80 people attended the event in council chambers. After the speakers had finished, the floor was open for questions and comments from the public.

Since 2006, when overdose statistics started being recorded by the coroner’s office, the previous high overdose-death total was 64 in 2007. There were 54 in 2014.

But early in 2015, authorities started noticing surges in overdose deaths and later confirmed suspicions that they were related to an influx of heroin laced with fentanyl, which is much more powerful than heroin.

Of the 87 deaths, 41 involved victims whose blood or urine contained at least two drugs. One had six drugs, Dr. Germaniuk said. Of the 87 deaths, 18 included fentanyl, including five from March 31 to April 9.

Heroin is the greatest threat, however, with 20 of the deaths being from heroin alone and 29 involving heroin and at least one other drug. Four were cocaine alone, but cocaine was one of multiple drugs in the system of 18 people.

The age of the victims ranged from 20 to 86, with the oldest victim having heart disease and hydrocodone intoxication, the result of a mixup involving prescriptions, Dr. Germaniuk said.

Eighty-one of the victims were white, and six were black. Fifty-five were male and 32 female.

Lt. Greg Hoso, commander of the Warren Police Department Street Crimes Unit, said he understands that people want to see drug houses eradicated from their neighborhood, but arresting drug dealers requires undercover drug buys and other time-consuming work.

Warren police try to identify the drug dealer after overdoses when there are enough elements to make prosecution a possibility, Hoso said.

He and three other street-crimes detectives are “out there every day,” and they have removed dealers from the streets, Hoso said. One suspect arrested a year ago had nearly 4 pounds of heroin and is awaiting trial in federal court.

Warren police are trained in using the opiate-reversal drug naloxone, and it was used 21 times in 2015, Police Chief Eric Merkel said. It has been used 11 times already this year, he added.

Sheriff Tom Altiere was one of a few speakers who stressed that educating future generations not to use drugs has to start when children are babies.

“A 6-year-old, when he gets in a car, what does he do? He puts on his seat belt – because we pounded it into his head,” the sheriff said.