September 22, 2016
The number of drug overdoses in Montgomery County is on the rise, the District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.
County officials revealed that 260 overdoses and 85 deaths have been reported through July 24. Those numbers exceed the amount of incidents from all of 2015 when 187 overdoses were documented and 71 people died.
The reported overdoses account for all drug types, but officials noted that a majority were opioid and heroin related.
District Attorney Kevin Steele released the figures as part of National Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week.
“It’s killing far too many people,” Steele said. “We are attacking the crisis on all fronts: through arrests and law enforcement efforts, educational efforts, our Prescription Drug Disposal Program and by equipping police with the life-saving drug naloxone.”
The county supplies Naloxone, which reverses the effects of opioids, to its police departments. However, only 33 of the county's 49 departments carry it.
Steele said that the county's goal is to equip all police officers with Naloxone.
