2019-2020 suicide, overdose data released

        The Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Seneca, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wyandot Counties has released the Calendar Year 2019-2020 Overdose & Suicide Death Report. Data was obtained from the Ohio Department of Health- Ohio Public Health Information Warehouse.
        Calendar year 2020 in Ohio had the highest year on record for overdose deaths. In the four-county district, Seneca County experienced the most overdose deaths per 100,000 people at 47.2. This number also exceeds Ohio’s total overdose deaths per 100,000, which is 42.5.
        Sandusky County experienced the least number of overdose deaths per 100,000 people at 18.7. Most of the overdose deaths in the district occurred among males (67.9%) and among individuals between 19-35 years old. Fentanyl was the leading cause of death.
        Ohio experienced a reduction in suicide deaths from 2018 to 2019, and again from 2019 to 2020. In calendar year 2020, Seneca County experienced the most suicide deaths within the district per 100,000 population at 14.5. This number also exceed Ohio’s suicide deaths per 100,000 at 13.9. Ottawa County experienced the least suicide deaths per 100,000 people at 9.9.
        Most of the suicide deaths in the district occurred among males (85.7%) and among individuals between 19-35 years old. Gunshots were the leading method and most of the suicides were among widowed individuals.
        The full report is posted on the board’s website at mhsosw.org.
        “Overdose and suicide deaths are preventable, and behind every single death is a grieving family. There are many people and agencies in our communities fighting daily to stop these numbers from claiming even more,” said Mircea Handru, director of the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Seneca, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wyandot Counties. “We received reports of Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer which is not approved for human use in the United State but is commonly used for sedating large animals, that could be linked to overdoses in some parts of the country. Xylazine has heavy sedative effects like an opioid but isn’t an opioid and doesn’t respond to Narcan. The street drug market continues to be very unpredictable and dangerous.
        “If you need help with your addiction, please contact our office at 419-448-0640,” Handru said.