173 Accidental Drug Deaths In Bucks Co. For 2022: Coroner

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —The Bucks County Coroner’s Office has released a report that it investigated 173 accidental drug overdose deaths in Bucks County last year, a slight drop from 2021.

Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck said the number of drug overdose fatalities decreased slightly from 2021 when 178 persons succumbed to drug toxicity.

Bucks County townships with more than 10 drug overdose deaths were Bristol Township (51), Bensalem (23), Falls Township (18), and Middletown Township (15), the Warminster-based coroner's office reported.

As in recent years, fentanyl continued to be the most common drug found on toxicological tests during medicolegal death investigations, Buck said.

“Drug deaths, particularly opioid-related deaths, continue to plague the greater Philadelphia area, including Bucks County,” Buck said.

Toxicological testing continued to confirm the synthetic opioid fentanyl as the most common drug in fatal overdoses. Fentanyl was found alone or in combination with other drugs in a total of 137 (79.2 percent) cases.

The next most common drugs were methamphetamine (27.7 percent), xylazine (25.4 percent), and cocaine (17.9 percent).

As in previous years, most decedents were male (70.5 percent) and white (82.7 percent). The age range was 18 – 69 years, with an average age of 43. Buck said that about one-third of the drug deaths involved those between the ages of 35-44-years-old.

Buck said that more than 75 percent of drug deaths involved a combination of drugs rather than a single substance.

Four persons died due to acute alcohol intoxication with no other substances involved. Uncommon single-drug deaths in 2022 included one death attributed to mitragynine (also known as kratom) and two deaths attributed to bromazolam, an unapproved benzodiazepine new to this area.

She said the coroner's office "diligently investigates each suspected drug death to the highest national standards."

Buck said that autopsies were performed in 84 percent of drug deaths in 2022 to ensure an accurate cause and manner of death.

A grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health helps offset the cost of our toxicological testing. She said drug death data was shared with other agencies, including the DEA.

"It is my hope that the information we provide will inform prevention efforts as we continue to battle the opioid epidemic,” Buck said.