About two years ago, a heroin epidemic hit Manatee County hard.
And the sheriff’s office began tracking overdoses.
The epidemic crosses over all races and socio-economic lines, according to MCSO public information director Dave Bristow.
Most ODs were heroin-related in 2016, but cocaine, pills and a combination of drugs, also are to blame.
“I see a lot of ODs and a lot of deaths,” Bristow said.
“It’s not the type of problem we can arrest our way out of,” he said.
In 2016, MCSO made 1,017 drug-related arrests, compared with 866 in 2015. As of Jan. 17 this year, Bristow reported 60 overdoses and 12 drug-associated deaths.
“It’s a problem you need treatment facilities, educators and law enforcement all working on,” Bristow said.
The MCSO reports the following:
OD incidents OD deaths
January 12 0
February 14 1
March 43 0
April 27 2
May 14 1
June 73 4
July 302 23
August 248 22
September 210 11
October 175 11
November 53 7
December 37 3
2016 Totals 1,208 85
In addition to the MCSO, EMS responded to 1,200-plus calls. EMTs and paramedics administer Naloxone, an opiate-reversal medication, to revive people who have overdosed. The drug also is available to people by prescription.
Sold under brand name Narcan and others, the medication cost less than $1 per dose in 2005, according to an August 2016 article in the Business Insider. It now costs $22 per dose at a CVS store in West Bradenton.
In February, Drug Free Manatee hosted its first opiate seminars for the public.