Allegheny County Opioid Related Deaths Skyrocket

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PA — The county has a mounting opioid problem, with accidental overdoses rising last year by 22 percent. There were 689 opioid-related deaths, 125 more the 564 that occurred in 2019.

Those numbers can be found in reports issued Friday by the county Office of the Medical Examiner and the departments of Health and Human Services, all of which are working to jointly combat the problem.

“The epidemic of drug overdoses continues with a steady rise towards the peak year of 2017 when the widespread availability of Narcan resulted in a significant decline,” county Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Karl William said.

“A particularly troubling trend is the increasing appearance of methamphetamine and newer synthetic analogues of fentanyl and the benzodiazepine group of agents.”

In 2020, more males died of drug-related overdoses (68 percent) with 75 percent of decedents being white.

The most frequent drug used by those who overdosed remains fentanyl, with heroin and cocaine the second and third most common. Those three drugs combined for 91 percent of the cases.