7 People Died In Spring City From Drug Overdoses In 2016

SPRING CITY, PA -- Seven Spring City deaths were among the 97 drug overdoses in Chester County in 2016, according to information provided by the Chester County Coroner's Office.

The statistics paint a sobering picture of the impact which the national epidemic has had upon the local community. Victims from across geographical locations, racial backgrounds, and ages died from accidental overdoses last year.

Most of the deaths involved opioids of some kind, and had often been mixed with alcohol and other drugs. The seven deaths in Spring City are listed below:

• 2/20: Caucasian male, 35 (fentanyl)
• 3/3: Caucasian female, 62 (opioids)
• 3/12: Caucasian male, 53 (heroin)
• 3/15: Caucasian male, 26 (fentanyl)
• 3/16: Caucasian female, 69 (opioids)
• 3/19: Caucasian female, 18 (fentanyl)
• 12/13: Caucasian female, 36 (heroin)

Overdoses were not concentrated in one area of the county, but were spread largely evenly in rural and more suburban areas, from Upper Oxford and New Garden to Malvern and West Chester.

Many of the overdoses involved fentanyl, a drug that Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele called "50 times" more deadly than heroin.

Nearby, there were six overdoses in Phoenixville, six in West Chester, five in Tredyffrin, two in East Whiteland, and one in Malvern.

Officials are attacking the opioid epidemic on multiple fronts. One of the most impactful has been the prescription drug collection initiatives, which in 2016 resulted in 8,000 pounds of drugs being collected from throughout the county.

According to District Attorney Tom Hogan, Chester County has the lowest overdose rate in southeastern Pennsyvlania, although numbers on the county, region, state, and national level continue to rise.

Editor's note: these statistics reflect the most recently available data from the Chester County's Coroner's Office. Final numbers on accidental drug deaths in 2016 are pending one final autopsy from an incident that occurred in December.

Patch file photo