Objective:  Healthy CT 2020 objective is to reduce drug overdose related incidents by 10% by year 2020.

What is Drug Overdose?: A drug overdose is defined as taking an excessive amount of drug which will result in harmful effects on body functions. A person can overdose on prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, or illegal drugs. Drug overdoses can be either accidental or intentional. An overdose may lead to serious medical complications and the severity of the drug overdose depends on the type of drug, amount taken, and the physical and medical history of an individual. National and State of Connecticut data shows that during the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in drug overdose deaths, particularly with opioid-related drugs. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine but is 50-100 times more potent. In Connecticut, 82% of the drug overdose deaths in 2019 were due to illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Currently, misuse and addiction to opioids including prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic opioids is a serious national crisis which is affecting the public health. 

Graph: Fentanyl and fentanyl-laced heroin and cocaine are becoming a more common and dangerous phenomenon in Connecticut communities. This synthetic opioid is much more potent than heroin by itself, and has led to many more overdoses in recent years. The line graph shows the drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl and its analogues during the years 2013-2019. Since 2013, the rate of fentanyl-involved drug overdose deaths has doubled every year up to and including 2015. From year 2015 to 2019, percentage of drug overdose related deaths involving fentanyl and its analogues have dramatically increased . There was a 418% increase in fentanyl involved deaths in year 2019, compared to 2015. The Healthy Connecticut 2020 objective is to reduce unintentional poisoning deaths by 10% by 2020.

Data Source:  Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Connecticut

Data updated by OCME 6/3/2020

Potential Partners

Connecticut Department of Public Health; Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services; Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection; Connecticut Department of Veterans’ Affairs; Connecticut Department of Social Services; Connecticut Poison Control Center; Commission on Children; Office of the Child Advocate; state and local substance abuse prevention service providers; local public health agencies; emergency medical services; hospitals; pharmacists and other health care providers; health professional associations; community service providers for families, youth, and seniors; organizations and coalitions focused on prevention of injury and poisonings; and others.

Policy: Improve surveillance and understanding of circumstances surrounding poisoning deaths by securing an enforceable legislative mandate that requires reporting of all poisonings to the poison center.

Surveillance: Improve surveillance and understanding of circumstances surrounding poisoning deaths by creating a legislatively mandated death review panel for all decedents who are suspected to have died by poisoning. The purpose of the panel is to look for systems changes and lessons learned from these deaths in order to inform prevention, training, policy, and surveillance. The panel will include co-chairs with toxicology expertise from the poison center and the medical examiner’s office. Other members might have expertise in suicide, older adults, children, substance abuse, and mental health to name a few.

Education and Training: Train death scene investigators in issues and investigatory techniques pertinent to prescription opioids, diversion, and other poisoning trends. To educate healthcare providers, community health systems and local health departments by providing informed system changes with regards to high risk groups. Training emergency physicians and care managers in cooperation with primary care physicians to set up an individualized care plans for patients who were flagged as drug-seekers, will reduce the mean number of ER visits. Patient education should contain information about overdose risk factors, how to avoid drug overdose, how to recognize and respond to an overdose. By providing patients with faster access to more supportive treatment, delivered in a more integrated way will result in hospital emergency visits related to opioid addictions. Patients will have significantly improved experiences because of new follow-up treatment programs, expanded community support and through education about impact of drug addiction on daily life.