Opioid Forum Coming To Cleveland Heights School

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — The Ohio opioid epidemic has spread its deadly talons into every metropolitan, suburb and rural township in the state. On Tuesday, March 6, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools will hold a forum for families called "The Opioid Crisis: What Parents and the Community Need to Know."

The event will feature a local family who lost their son to an opioid overdose. Dr. Thomas Gilson, Cuyahoga County's Medical Examiner, will also speak at the event.

The forum will start at 6:30 p.m. It will be held in the Heights High School mini-auditorium.

Childcare will be available to parents that want to attend but need to bring their younger children. To secure childcare for the evening, attendees will need to RSVP to chuhptacouncil@gmail.com.

The state's battle with opioids has been well publicized. A congressional report even called Ohio the "face of the opioid epidemic." Ohio had the second highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. More than 63,600 Americans died of overdoses last year, the deadliest year on record for the United States.

The overdose death rate released by the CDC exceeds the peak number of deaths during the AIDS crisis in 1995, the peak number of gun-related deaths in 1993, the peak number of car crash deaths in 1972. The figure is also greater than the number of American soldiers who died during the Vietnam War.

According to the CDC, the national rate for drug overdose deaths was 19.8 per 100,000. In 22 states, the rate was even higher. West Virginia (52), Ohio (39.1), New Hampshire (39) and Pennsylvania (37.9) had the highest drug overdose death rates.

Overdose deaths are already pacing far ahead 2016 in Ohio, according to data from the CDC. By May 2016, there were 3,606 overdose deaths statewide. By the same time in 2017, there were 5,097 overdose deaths, an increase of 43 percent.

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