Possible Overdose In Avon Lake

AVON LAKE, OH — Avon Lake police dealt with a possible overdose in the final days of August. A resident had to be taken to the Avon Cleveland Clinic for treatment, according to police records.

Late on August 29, officers were called to a Fairport Drive home for a possible prescription overdose. When officers arrived, the residents was awake but incoherent. Police records describe the resident as "lethargic."

Avon Lake paramedics arrived and took the resident to the Cleveland Clinic for treatment.

Prescription pills have long been considered one of the major contributing factors to Ohio's overdose and addiction crisis. In the span of just seven years, more than 3.4 million pain pills flooded the Buckeye State.

In February 2018, then-Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (now the state's governor), filed a lawsuit accusing four prescription opioid distributors of unsafe distribution practices. DeWine said the companies knew they were flooding Ohio's markets with prescription pain killers.

In Ohio, there were 4,002 drug overdose deaths in 2018, a decrease of more than 1,000 from 2017, according to the latest provisional data.