People often ask us whether our efforts in fighting the opioid epidemic in Monmouth County are making any difference. It’s a great question and, truth be told, its difficult to quantify the impact from our continuous efforts. We compared opioid overdose death statistics for the first 6 months of this year to the first 6 months of 2016. Opioid overdose-related deaths has FALLEN by 25% compared to last year (55 to date for 2017; 73 for the first 6 months of 2016).
There has been a corresponding 18% increase in Narcan deployments in the first 6 months of this year compared to last year (236 to date in 2017; 199 for first 6 months of 2016). Additionally, the number of overdose victims that could not be saved after administering Narcan also DECLINED by 30% this year compared to last year (14 to date for 2017; 20 for the first 6 months of 2016).
