DEA issues first report on drug overdoses in Pa.
The first-ever report from the Drug Enforcement Administration on Pennsylvania drug overdoses released Tuesday highlighted the unsurprising fact that heroin accounts for 51 percent of all drug overdose deaths in the state.
The 89-page report showed 61 percent of all overdose deaths were due to some sort of opioid drug. And, 12 rural counties were among the 20 with the highest rate of drug deaths per 100,000 people.
The data from 2014 shows Washington and Greene counties had heroin as the highest killer, with Greene County also including Oxycodone. Of the nearly 2,500 deaths across the state in 2014, Washington had 37 and Greene had 9; nearby Allegheny County had 307 overdose deaths.
Nearly 65 percent of all overdose deaths were men; whites accounted for 80 percent of all deaths.