{"id":178941,"date":"2024-05-08T03:29:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T08:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=178941"},"modified":"2024-05-08T03:29:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T08:29:06","slug":"yost-highlights-trends-involving-opiods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/05\/08\/yost-highlights-trends-involving-opiods\/","title":{"rendered":"Yost highlights trends involving opiods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has released data from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation\u2019s laboratory highlighting the ongoing prevalence of the synthetic opioid Fentanyl in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIllegal use of fentanyl continues to wreck Ohioans\u2019 lives, causing addiction and death,\u201d Yost said. \u201cUnless the pills you\u2019re taking were prescribed by your doctor, you can\u2019t be sure what it is \u2013 don\u2019t risk it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said last year alone, more than 70,000 Americans fatally overdosed on illegally made fentanyl. In Ohio in 2023, the total number of fentanyl-related opioid deaths was 3,579, according to Yost\u2019s Scientific Committee on Opioid Overdose and Prevention Education, which monitors such deaths statewide using Ohio Department of Health data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Drugs such as fentanyl pose an increasing threat to Ohioans. Photo provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Those 3,579 deaths represent 98 percent of the 3,651 overall opioid fatalities in Ohio last year \u2014 reinforcing the breadth of the state\u2019s challenge with illegal fentanyl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese numbers are frightening if you look at them as numbers,\u201d Yost said. \u201cThey are heartbreaking when you realize they were someone\u2019s loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fentanyl update<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the largest criminal drug lab in the state, BCI\u2019s laboratory tests a majority, but not all, of the drug evidence seized by law enforcement agencies in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BCI lab continues to process a high number of cases involving fentanyl, which in the first quarter of 2024 was the second-most-often identified substance in drug-evidence samples (after only methamphetamine). Since 2018, fentanyl has posed an increasingly larger public threat than heroin, whose prevalence has steadily declined in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fentanyl is manufactured for doctors to control patients\u2019 pain within a controlled environment. When fentanyl is illicitly manufactured in clandestine laboratories and mixed with other substances by drug traffickers \u2014 and\/or used recreationally \u2014 it can be lethal.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Illicitly manufactured fentanyl often contains forms of fentanyl whose structure is chemically modified, making their potency and toxicity unknown. To date, BCI has identified at least 33 distinct versions of chemically modified fentanyl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fentanyl can be found in many forms, including pills and powder, and is often combined by traffickers with heroin, cocaine and\/or other drugs. When consumed, complex mixtures of drugs can create dangerous interactions in the body, amplifying the danger. One sample recently analyzed by BCI contained 11 controlled substances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carfentanil update<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carfentanil, a fentanyl analogue that is roughly 100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine, continues its ongoing presence in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drug was first detected in Ohio drug samples in 2016 and caused a spike in overdoses in 2017. Five years later, the public threat posed by carfentanil seemed to be abating, with BCI\u2019s lab identifying the drug in only five samples in all of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September of last year, however, AG Yost issued a warning about an uptick in carfentanil prevalence. Since Oct. 23, the BCI lab has identified a combined 36 items containing carfentanil in 14 counties, with the majority of those seized in northeastern Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carfentanil is often found with other drugs and has been identified in market tablets and powders, including those similar in appearance to materials used to manufacture oxycodone tablets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you believe you have been exposed to fentanyl or carfentanil, you should seek immediate medical attention and notify law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Practically non-existent in 2010, fentanyl cases have soared in recent years. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff\/submitted information COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has released data from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation\u2019s laboratory highlighting the ongoing prevalence of the synthetic opioid Fentanyl in Ohio. \u201cIllegal use of fentanyl continues to wreck Ohioans\u2019 lives, causing addiction and death,\u201d Yost said. \u201cUnless the pills you\u2019re taking were prescribed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 22:18:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178941"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178986,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178941\/revisions\/178986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}