Crime & Safety

Heroin Overdoses are Target of New County Plan

Cuyahoga County launches initiative on dangerous street drug.

Cuyahoga County is responding to a dramatic increase in heroin use—and overdose deaths—in Cleveland and the suburbs by investigating people who lose their lives to the street drug.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald announced a new initiative last month aimed at curbing deaths by heroin overdoses, according to various news sources, including cleveland.com.

Police Chief Richard E. Mannarino said heroin isn't a big problem in Brecksville. The department has not seen any arrests or overdoses among juveniles in recent years, he said, a problem that has come up in nearby Independence. NewsNet5 reports that there were four fatal heroin overdoses in Independence last fall and winter. 

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The county program includes a new website and an investigation by the Medical Examiner's Office of each person who dies from a heroin overdose to see if there was a way the death could have been prevented by some type of intervention.

Authorities say heroin use on Ohio has become a near-epidemic, with the addictive drug more available and cheaper than most other narcotics.

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Experts say people addicted to prescription medication often switch to heroin because it is less expensive and easier to get.

As of mid-June, 79 people in Cuyahoga County had died from heroin use this year, compared to 107 in all of 2011.


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