Drug overdose deaths in Pennsylvania surged last year, driven in part by Lehigh County's relatively high mortality rate.

Nearly 3,400 overdose deaths were reported across Pennsylvania, an increase of 23 percent over 2014, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported this week in an analysis of overdose deaths statewide. Heroin or at least one other opiate or opioid were present in four out of five victims.

"The abuse of illicit street drugs and diverted pharmaceuticals continues to take too many lives and destroys families across Pennsylvania and the nation at large," DEA special agent Gary Tuggle said in a news release.

CAPTION Experts weigh in on the challenges of finding addiction treatment in the Lehigh Valley and the interventions they believe could help stem the opioid crisis. (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call) Experts weigh in on the challenges of finding addiction treatment in the Lehigh Valley and the interventions they believe could help stem the opioid crisis. (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call) CAPTION Experts weigh in on the challenges of finding addiction treatment in the Lehigh Valley and the interventions they believe could help stem the opioid crisis. (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call) Experts weigh in on the challenges of finding addiction treatment in the Lehigh Valley and the interventions they believe could help stem the opioid crisis. (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call) CAPTION Twenty-one years after he last used, Tom Ritter reflects on his personal recovery from opioid and alcohol abuse. (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call) Twenty-one years after he last used, Tom Ritter reflects on his personal recovery from opioid and alcohol abuse. (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call) CAPTION Lehigh County Drug & Alcohol Asst. Administrator Joseph Martellucci and Morning Call reporter Pam Lehmdiscuss how to save an opioid overdose victim. Lehigh County Drug & Alcohol Asst. Administrator Joseph Martellucci and Morning Call reporter Pam Lehmdiscuss how to save an opioid overdose victim. CAPTION Public health leaders discuss the opioid epidemic as a public health crisis at a roundtable discussion hosted by The Morning Call on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Public health leaders discuss the opioid epidemic as a public health crisis at a roundtable discussion hosted by The Morning Call on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. CAPTION Jeff Hayward, president and CEO of Heart of Florida United Way, talks about a new program for users to text from their phones for assistance during an opioid crisis, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. The program is being launched in Central Florida as a pilot, with the possibility of going national later in 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Jeff Hayward, president and CEO of Heart of Florida United Way, talks about a new program for users to text from their phones for assistance during an opioid crisis, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. The program is being launched in Central Florida as a pilot, with the possibility of going national later in 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

The overdose mortality rate for the state was 26 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the DEA's analysis. That compares to a national rate of 15 per 100,000 in 2014, the most recent year for which national data are available.

In Lehigh County, the overdose mortality rate was 32 deaths per 100,000 people — the 15th highest rate among the state's 67 counties.

At 24 deaths per 100,000 people, Northampton County had the 27th highest rate, which though close to the median was a big jump from 2014, when it was ranked No. 54.

Evidence of an epidemic — fueled by cheap and easy access to powerful drugs, including painkillers prescribed by doctors — is evident throughout the Lehigh Valley. Fifty-nine people died of accidental overdoses involving heroin or other opiates in Northampton County in 2014 and 2015, a recent Morning Call review of coroner's records found. In Lehigh County, 40 people died over the same period. Another 76 died from overdoses that were tied to multiple drugs, though county Coroner Scott Grim would not provide details of the substances involved.

Those who overdosed were as young as 15 and as old as 63. They included high school dropouts and graduates, college students and college graduates, an ironworker, a retired chemist, a pharmacy technician, truck drivers.

The situation prompted Gov. Tom Wolf to agree to a special legislative session in the fall to find legislative remedies and programs that might reduce overdoses and deaths.

"This is something we've got to acknowledge, we've got to address because Pennsylvania is in crisis," Wolf said in June when the special session was announced. "Our fellow citizens are looking to us for action."

In the new state budget, Wolf has requested an additional $34 million for the Department of Human Services to start 50 new drug-treatment centers.

The DEA also found:

• Heroin was the most frequently identified drug in toxicology test results, present in nearly 55 percent of drug overdose victims in 2015.

• Nearly as many victims tested positive for non-heroin opioids such as fentanyl or oxycodone.

• The presence of cocaine increased 41 percent from 2014, especially among African-Americans, for whom cocaine was the most frequently identified drug in 2015.

• Two-thirds of victims were male.

• Three-quarters were white.

• The median age of victims was 40, and a quarter of victims were between the ages of 30 and 39.

• As in 2014, 12 rural counties were among the top 20 with the highest rates of deaths; four of the five counties with the highest rates were rural.

•The county with the highest overdose mortality rate was Philadelphia, where 46 per 100,000 people died in 2015, according to the DEA's analysis.

skennedy@mcall.com

610-820-6130

DRUG OVERDOSE MORTALITY RATE

Deaths per 100,000 people in 2015 by county

Lehigh: 32

Carbon: 28

Northampton: 24

Bucks: 19

Berks: 17

Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration