Essex County: 284 Percent Increase In Heroin Deaths Since 2011

By TOM DAVIS (Patch Staff)

Essex County has had among the state’s highest increases in heroin deaths since 2011, jumping 284 percent, according to the state Medical Examiner’s Office.

While the county’s overall number ticked up slightly from 2013, 2014’s number was nearly four times the amount in 2011, when there were 13 heroin deaths.

More than 600 people died of heroin-related overdoses in New Jersey in 2014 - doubling the amount of deaths from the drug since 2011, according to the state Medical Examiner’s Office.

Camden, Middlesex, Ocean and Monmouth had the highest number of overdose deaths in 2014, while Bergen, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Middlesex, Monmouth and Warren had the percentage highest increases from 2013.

Zachariah Hosseini, a spokesman for the state Medical Examiner’s Office, provided the data to Patch after NJ.com released a similar report that combined heroin and morphine deaths.

The numbers of deaths in Middlesex County has skyrocketed in recent years, jumping 82 percent from 2013 to 2014 - the highest of all counties - and 162 percent since 2011.

Passaic County has had the highest percentage increase of heroin-overdose deaths since 2011, rising 700 percent.

(Photo: County-by-county heroin death statistics, with the percentage increases/decreases between 2013 and 2014, and between 2011 and 2014.)

The data comes as state lawmakers and law enforcement try to come up with solutions to the problem that’s no longer a problem of the cities. Ocean and Monmouth Counties have routinely had among the highest number of heroin-related deaths in New Jersey in recent years.

Indeed, towns such as Toms River, Brick and Woodbridge have also found themselves rivaling Newark and Jersey City in the number of people seeking heroin-abuse treatment, according to state statistics.

Related story:

• 20 Towns With The Most Heroin And Opiate Abuse

Law enforcement officials have blamed the increase in heroin overdoses on several factors, namely the increasing purity of the drug and its availability. Drugs such as fetanyl have also been added to increase the potency of the drug; but such additives have also made heroin more lethal.