Opioid Overdose Deaths Continue To Decline In Nassau County

New data from the Nassau County Medical Examiner's office shows that fatal heroin overdoses continued to decline in 2018, continuing a trend that began in 2017.

Last year, 147 people died from overdoses in Nassau County, a 24.6 percent decrease from the all-time high of 195 in 2016. It's the lowest number of overdose deaths in the county since 2013.

According to county officials, the opioid problem was getting worse and worse from years, but the trend finally seems to be changing. The deaths from overdoses were:

• 2010: 82
• 2011: 109
• 2012: 126
• 2013: 132
• 2014: 149
• 2015: 177
• 2016: 195
• 2017: 184
• 2018: 147

“The opioid epidemic continues to be the most pressing public health crisis facing our communities, but this dramatic drop in overdose deaths shows that our work to bridge the treatment gap is saving lives,” said Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. “Since 2015, when we partnered with Maryhaven’s New Hope Center to provide 24/7 inpatient treatment on-demand, the facility has helped more than 2,200 people receive the support they need to break free from addiction.”

In 2015, the DA's office provided $585,000 in criminal asset forfeiture funds to expand Maryhaven’s New Hope Crisis Center and close the treatment gap. This treatment gap leaves many patients on their own during the most painful and difficult throes of withdrawal, following their release from a hospital after an overdose, often leading to repeat use that can continue uninterrupted until death.

With the funding from the DA's office, patients were able to go straight from the hospital following an overdose to a treatment facility to help them with their addiction.

“District Attorney Singas’ three-pronged strategy of enforcement, education and treatment to fight the opioid crisis is working, and Nassau is committed to building on this commendable progress," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said. "That’s why at my direction, Nassau County has mobilized at full-scale to meet the long-term treatment and education challenges necessary to eradicate this epidemic in Nassau County. We cannot wait this out – for every additional life we can save, there is another family that does not have to bury a loved one.”