Ohio drug overdose deaths hit record in 2010

After a slight downturn in 2009, Ohio logged a record high number of accidental drug overdose deaths in 2010, when 1,544 people died prematurely, according to figures released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Health.

From 2001 to 2010, overdose deaths climbed almost threefold. In 2007, they surpassed traffic crashes as the leading cause of injury death in the state and it hasn’t really been close since — 1,080 crash deaths in 2010.

» Prescription opioids were named on 694 of the death certificates for those victims lost to unintentional overdose. That’s 25 percent higher than the totals killed by heroin (338) and cocaine (213) combined.

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