The Franklin County Coroner's Office today released preliminary overdose statistics for the first eight months of 2018.
From January through the end of August, the coroner's office saw 345 people die of overdoses. Opiates accounted for most of those fatalities with fentanyl the primary cause in 76 percent of overdose deaths. The county says 76 percent of those who died were White, 21 percent Black and 3 percent Hispanic. More than 71 percent were male. The preliminary figures did not include an age breakdown. The five zip codes with the highest number of overdose deaths for the first 8 months of 2018 were 43207, 43204, 43223, 43213, and 43123. The coroner's office says there were also 345 overdose deaths through the first 8 months of 2017.
