Camden County Among Hardest Hit By Opioid Crisis

Camden County has made progress in the battle against opioids, but it still has work to do, according to the latest state data. The county saw decreases in death totals, deployments of narcan and the number of opioid prescriptions over the last year, but is still among the top two counties in the state in all three categories.

There were 148 deaths that came as the result of drug overdoses in Camden County through March 31 of this year, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. This was down from the 200 deaths recorded in 2016, but was still the second highest in the entire state. Statistics for 2017 are not yet available. The highest number of deaths due to drug overdose was 177, recorded in Essex County.

Camden county led the way when it came to deployments of the heroin antidote Narcan. Narcan was administered 964 times by police in Camden County through March 31. From 2015-2017, it was administered a total of 2,430 times.

Camden County was second in the state with number of opioids prescribed, at 178,656, down from 415,775 in 2017. In Bergen County, opioids were prescribed 179,670 times. They were prescribed 176,285 times in Ocean County.

According to data published by NJ Spotlight, deaths due to heroin, fentanyl and other opioids hit 1,394 New Jerseyans through June 17, compared to 2,221 for all of 2016.

That means the number of opioid deaths could actually pass 3,000 this year, according to data that NJ Spotlight obtained from NJCares, which maintains statistical information for the Office of Attorney General.

For a county-by-county breakdown, click here.

Patch file photo