Many States Don’t Have Accurate Heroin Overdose Figures

Determining exactly how many people die of heroin overdoses is difficult to pinpoint because many states do not require reporting of specific details on drug overdoses, NPR reports. Information that is available is usually at least two years old.

Dr. Kurt Nolte, Executive Vice President for the National Association of Medical Examiners, says every drug found in a person’s system at the time of death should be listed on the death certificate. “The interventions for whether it’s heroin or other illicit substances are different than, for example, if they are prescription drugs,” he said. “And if you can’t tell the difference because everybody’s classified as multi-drug toxicity, you have no idea what’s killing people.”

The most recent statistics on drug overdoses in Pennsylvania are from 2012, the article notes. Many states do not have current, accurate and complete statistics in their databases.

Current information on databases could help paramedics be better prepared to stop an overdose, according to Gary Tennis, Acting Secretary for Pennsylvania’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. At least 28 people in Philadelphia died after using heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl between March 3 and April 20 last year. “You might require more than one administration of naloxone, one might not do it. It’s really useful for our emergency services to have that information that fentanyl’s there,” Tennis said.

Law enforcement could also use current data on overdoses in planning undercover stings. Tennis said the statistics would be useful when he advocates for state funding for specific treatment programs.