Avon Lake Man ODs Twice In 2 Days

AVON LAKE, OH — A 38-year-old Avon Lake man, overdosed twice in two days, according to police reports. The man overdosed on Fredricksburg Drive and then on Electric Boulevard. He was transported to the Avon Cleveland Clinic both times.

On May 30, police received word of a possible drug overdose at 151 Fredricksburg. They found the 38-year-old and sent him with Avon Lake Fire to the hospital.

One day later, police got calls from a woman saying a man living at Electric Boulevard may have overdosed on heroin. The woman had been unable to reach the man on the phone. Law enforcement and the Rescue Squad found the man passed out in his backyard. He was again taken to the hospital.

There was no drug paraphernalia found at the scene, a spokesperson for Avon Lake Police said. There are no pending charges against the man, police said.

Listen to the 911 call from May 31 below:

Overdose deaths have spiked in Ohio in recent years, largely because of an increase in the use of fentanyl and heroin. Unintentional drug overdoses jumped from 84 in 2013 to 503 in 2014. Then, in 2015, the number of unintentional overdoses spike again, hitting 1,155 in Ohio.

The crisis deepened in 2016, with 666 overdose deaths in Cuyahoga County alone. Of the 666 deaths, 557 were the result of opiate abuse, 399 the result of fentanyl.

Last week, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the state would sue five opioid drug producers for fraudulent marketing and their role in Ohio's drug epidemic.

"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids. These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids" said DeWine.

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