Ohio Drug Epidemic

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Muskingum Behavioral Health calls this the most deadly drug trend.

C.E.O. Steve Carrel said there has been another overdose death last night and there is another person in intensive care after overdosing. He said Muskingum County is on a record-setting pace for most overdose death and suicide deaths.

“How many overdoses are really suicides and there’s no way of telling. We’re tracking both numbers very closely to see, number one, how many? And can we learn something from that? And if we can learn something from that, is where we can put together some kind of intervention to hopefully prevent more,” said Carrel.

Carrel said more treatment options are needed to help people struggling with addiction. He said Muskingum Behavioral Health needs medication-assisted treatment.

“That’s one thing we don’t have a good, adult, capacity for here. We’re working on that. We have a nurse practitioner one day a week and we’re trying to get more, more time. Medication in conjunction with treatment with counseling has a much better outcome than just medication or just counseling when it comes to the opioids,” said Carrel.

Carrel said with counseling and medication treatment people are nearly three times more likely to be on a successful path to recovery than just counseling or medication treatment alone.