Overdose deaths dropped significantly in Westmoreland in 2022

Accidental drug overdose deaths decreased significantly in 2022 with 118, but the number of deaths by suicide — 62 — set a record, according to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s annual report.

Officials involved in drug abuse prevention hope the decrease is a good sign for the harm reduction efforts they’ve been driving home over the past several years. They’ve flooded communities with naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote, and medication-assisted treatment is more available. A team has been established to help overdose survivors who decline ambulance transport get into treatment.

“This is such good news,” said Colleen Hughes, director of the Westmoreland Drug and Alcohol Commission. “I’m very pleased to see that a lot of our efforts, I believe, are working.”

“I think we’ve changed the environment,” said Tim Phillips, director of the Westmoreland County Drug Overdose Task Force.

The 118 deaths last year is a sharp drop from 2021, when that figure hit 168. After hitting a high point in 2017 with 193 drug overdose deaths, the statistics dropped dramatically to 122, 115 and 123 deaths in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. Still, the figure for 2021 is more than double the deaths from 10 years ago, when 64 people died from drug overdoses, according to coroner statistics.

Heroin is now nearly nonexistent in overdose deaths. Fentanyl was a contributor in 89 deaths in 2022, while heroin was present in just six.

The annual report released Wednesday showed a slight drop in the total caseload, from 3,571 in 2021 to 3,309 last year. There were 22 traffic-related deaths and five homicides. The coroner’s office has been working with Ray of Hope, the county’s suicide awareness and prevention task force, to get resources to families when the deputies respond to death by suicide calls.

Ray of Hope was working on creating teams that will go to suicide calls and meet with family members.