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DAYTON \u2014 The city\u2019s east side is the epicenter for Montgomery County\u2019s accidental drug overdose epidemic, according to newly released county emergency room and coroner data.<\/p>\n
Despite two years and $160,000 of publicly funded research, it\u2019s still unclear why Montgomery County has an unusually high accidental overdose death rate of 23 per 100,000 people, twice that of other urban Ohio counties. But data from the county coroner\u2019s office and hospitals are challenging some long-held beliefs about the county\u2019s drug overdose epidemic.<\/p>\n
Among the 61 people who died of accidental drug overdoses in the first half of this year, 90 percent were white. East Dayton is predominantly white, and it\u2019s home to many people of Appalachian descent. The five counties with the highest accidental drug overdose death rates in Ohio in 2009 were Appalachian counties. Research sponsored by the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services has shown that Appalachians are among the groups more likely to abuse opiate painkillers.<\/p>\n
\u201cVirtually all of us pay for the problem, and the costs, whether human or financial, are not insignificant,\u201d a report made public this month by Wright State University\u2019s Center for Interventions, Treatment & Addictions Research (CITAR) concludes.<\/p>\n
Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ((Excerpt)) DAYTON \u2014 The city\u2019s east side is the epicenter for Montgomery County\u2019s accidental drug overdose epidemic, according to newly released county emergency room and coroner data. Despite two years and $160,000 of publicly funded research, it\u2019s still unclear why … Continue reading