In 2016, Onondaga County’s opioid drug death rate was the highest in the state, excluding New York City, according to health statistics published by the county’s health department.

Officials have recently been working to educate health care providers on how to identify and treat substance abuse disorders, particularly drug addiction, throughout the area.

There were 142 opioid-related deaths reported in the county last year. Most of the deaths were associated with the use of fentanyl, a powerful and addictive opioid commonly mixed with heroin. Fentanyl can be used as part of anesthesia medicine.

Bridget Lenkiewicz, a research technician at the Onondaga County Health Department, said the deaths are not just affecting the city of Syracuse, but Onondaga County as a whole, and the number of opioid-related deaths has more than tripled since 2012.

“Fentanyl can be 50 to 100 percent more potent (than heroin),” said Dessa Bergen-Cico, associate professor of public health, food studies and nutrition at Syracuse University’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

The county recently offered training in partnership with the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy to assist health care providers in treating substance abuse disorders. That event was held last Wednesday.

Lenkiewicz said last year the average age of overdose victims in Onondaga County was between 30 and 39 years old. She also said males tended to overdose and die more than females.

The Onondaga County Health Department does not know why there has been an increase in the number of overdoses, Lenkiewicz said. She added, though, that it might be due to drug traffic on area interstate highways.

Overprescription could be one reason why the overdose rate is so high, Bergen-Cico said.

“There is a perception that drugs that can be prescribed by doctors ‘must not be dangerous.’  This is obviously not true; opiates can be lethal, but it’s hard to fight that perception,” said Dara Friedman-Wheeler, an associate professor of psychology at Goucher College, who helped train officials at the session last Wednesday.

Bergen-Cico said anxiety is one aspect of the opioid crisis. Medical providers need more programs to help deal with addiction and anxiety created by drug use, she said.

Many people are afraid to talk about drug use, though, Lenkiewicz added.

Last year, the Onondaga County Health Department released a Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan. The plan included steps on how to fight the opioid crisis.

Lenkiewicz said there is a “three-step prong” process for addressing opioid addiction. That process includes treatment and prevention, she said, such as implementing standardized prescription drug monitoring programs in local emergency departments.

The Onondaga County Drug Task Force can also spread awareness about opioids, she said.

The county health official said the department has been working with local medical providers and training them on how to handle opioid addiction as an outreach effort.

“I hope the training gave practitioners some new tools they can use to better help their clients, and in so doing, that it gave them some hope,” Friedman-Wheeler said.

Published on October 4, 2017 at 9:53 pm

Contact Bianca: bmoorman@syr.edu