Montgomery County, in southwest Ohio, is pretty much ground zero for the opioid crisis. The region has one of the highest overdose death rates in the country — mostly due to the illicit use of these narcotics. This statewide plague has rocked communities as prison populations for drug offenders swell. It has employers grappling with ways to hire and keep their workforces productive and in lockstep with economic demand.

It's not surprising that the state has one of the largest female prison populations in the country. Experts agree addiction has been fueling this rapid growth. Thirty-five percent of all charges against women in the last decade were drug related.

The Prescription Drug Crisis In Ohio

70% of the children in Ohio child welfare programs have opioid-involved parents, and it is overwhelming the system.

Statistics paint a truly bleak picture of the state. About 5,000 people die from opioid overdoses in Ohio each year. The crisis is costing Ohio between $4 billion and $5 billion a year and hurting its competitiveness due to extremely low marks on health.

In the year 2017, Ohio providers wrote 63.5 opioid prescriptions for every 100 persons compared to the average U.S. rate of 58.7 prescriptions (per the CDC). This represents a 38 percent decrease from a peak of 102.4 opioid prescriptions per 100 persons in 2010.

In the state of Ohio, adolescents filled 9 to 10 million opioid doses annually. Adults filled approximately 740 to 780 million opioid doses annually from 2008-2012.

Adults fill prescriptions for nearly 100 oral opioid doses per capita annually, which is an absurdly high rate. Adolescents typically fill prescriptions for approximately 7 oral opioid doses per capita annually.

The annual mean statewide oral opioid dose per capita for adults is approximately 13 times that of adolescents. The adolescent treatment admission rate ranges from 0.7 - 1.09 per 1000 from 2008 - 2012.

Indeed, 8 out of 10 adolescents who misuse prescription drugs report that their access to these drugs comes from friends or relatives. This may potentially be reflected in the fact that the rate of admission for opioid misuse treatment in adolescents continued to increase until 2011 during the study period despite a decrease in the number of opioid prescriptions filled by adolescents.

The highest rates of oral opioid doses filled were observed in the southern portion of Ohio. Similarly, adolescent treatment admissions for opioid misuse appeared to be concentrated in the southern portion of the state.

The rate of overdose deaths involving opioid prescriptions rose steadily from 0.7 deaths per 100,000 persons in 1999 to a peak of 8.4 deaths per 100,000 persons in 2017.

In 2017, Ohio had the second highest rate of drug overdose deaths involving opioids in the U.S. There were 4,293 reported deaths — a rate of 39.2 deaths per 100,000 persons, compared to the average national rate of 14.6 deaths per 100,000 persons.

In 2011, prescription opioids were the main underlying cause of overdose deaths in Ohio, with a total of 710 deaths reported that year. The number of deaths continued to grow and by 2017, prescription drugs accounted for 947 reported deaths.

The greatest increase of deaths, however, involved synthetic opioids other than methadone (predominantly Fentanyl) with a nearly twenty-fivefold increase from 139 deaths in 2012 to 3,523 deaths in 2017.

Heroin-involved deaths also rose during the same period to a peak of 1,478 in 2016. In 2017, however, the number fell to 1,000 deaths, a decrease of 32 percent.

NAS or neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) may occur when a pregnant woman uses drugs such as opioids during pregnancy. To date, there is no standard in NAS/NOWS provider and hospital coding practices (CDC). As a result, the trends and the rates reported by states vary. The rate of NAS/NOWS in Ohio rose from 2 cases per 1,000 hospital births in 2006 to 14 cases per 1,000 hospital births in 2017 (per the Ohio Department of Health).

Of the new HIV cases in 2016, 969 occurred in Ohio. Among males, 9.3 percent of new HIV cases were attributed to male-to-male contact and opioid abuse. Among females, 20.7 percent of new HIV cases were attributed to opioid abuse.

In 2015, an estimated 20,709 persons were living with a diagnosed HIV infection in Ohio — a rate of 307 cases per 100,000 persons. Of those, 11 percent of male cases were attributed to opioid abuse or male-to-male contact and opioid abuse. Among females, 16.7 percent were living with HIV attributed to opioid and prescription opioid abuse.

There were approximately 187 new cases of acute HCV (1.6 per 100,000 persons) reported in Ohio in 2016 (per the CDC). In Ohio, there are an estimated 90,600 persons living with Hepatitis C (2013-2016 annual average), a rate of 1,010 cases per 100,000 persons. A great amount of these cases were attributable to opioid and prescription opioid abuse.

Addiction Treatment In Ohio

Ohio is struggling badly with prescription drug abuse but luckily, there are numerous centers of treatment and rehab in place to help combat the issue. There are many types of treatment centers such as long term addiction treatment facilities, short term drug abuse treatment, outpatient detoxification programs, outpatient substance abuse treatment services, inpatient drug abuse treatment and others.

There is a vast range of drug and alcohol rehab facilities available. They include individual psychotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy, couple/family therapy, trauma therapy, trauma-related counseling, cognitive/behavior therapy and others, to name a few. If you need rehab in Ohio, all you need to do is place a call to any of the available rehab centers.

CITATIONS

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/drug-addiction-treatment-in-united-states/types-treatment-programs

https://www.dea.gov/resource-center/2016%20NDTA%20Summary.pdf#page=40&zoom=auto,-80,792

https://www.carnevaleassociates.com/our-work/emerging-drug-trends-prevention-issue-brief.html

https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/DIR-032-18%202018%20NDTA%20final%20low%20resolution.pdf

https://www.getsmartaboutdrugs.gov/news-statistics/emerging-drug-trends

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234579/

https://www.shadac.org/publications/50-state-analysis-drug-overdose-trends-evolving-opioid-crisis-across-states