OHIO, USA — Harry Totten nearly became a fentanyl statistic after decades of using crack cocaine.
He said he never overdosed. And what changed? Fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a killing machine in powder form.
The drug continues to infiltrate the Buckeye state, but the amount of fentanyl entering the state has fallen dramatically.
Ohio State Highway Patrol statistics show they seized 57,739 grams in 2020. By 2022, OSHP seized 181,376 grams. Since then, the amounts have fallen from 56,928 grams in 2023 to 16,844 grams so far in 2024.
In Totten's case, he says he had no idea the drug he was taking was laced with fentanyl.
“They said they Narcan'd me eight times and they were not getting no response,” he said.
Despite multiple relapses, he's now in recovery at Maryhaven and is helping others get sober.
“I don't want to see more people die behind this disease. I think I can make a difference,” he said.
Overdose deaths involving fentanyl have dropped dramatically in Franklin County since the peak in 2020, according to the Franklin County Coroner's Office. The numbers fell from 733 deaths in 2020 to 569 deaths in 2023.
Part of the reason is that drugs seized at the border and on the streets by local law enforcement are not making it into as many hands as it once was.
Seized fentanyl ends up at a state crime lab in London, Ohio.
There, evidence is used to convict and exonerate those in the drug trade.
“About 20% of our caseload is fentanyl, many years ago it was nowhere near that,” said Lynne Strainic, lab supervisor at BCI in London.
BCI says in the first quarter of this year, it was the second most often identified substance in drug-evidence samples.
“It is coming from the entire state,” says Strainic.
Statewide, thousands of people die every year from fentanyl overdoses. The good news is the numbers are falling.
In 2020, the state hit a peak at just over 5,000 overdose deaths. By 2023, the number stood at 4,447, a 9.5% drop from 2022. That's better than the national average of a 3% drop in 2023.
The question is what changed?
“We haven't seen this kind of drop in nine years. We haven't seen this kind of drop ever,” says Dennis Couchon, who runs Harm Reduction Ohio, the largest distributor of fentanyl strips.
The strips work as an alarm system for drug users to let them test the drugs before they take them so they know if it’s laced with fentanyl.
Couchon believes overdose deaths from fentanyl in Ohio are falling due to an element not related to the state.
“It's the cartels,” he said.
He points to the recent arrests of the alleged leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel as a possible reason why Ohio is seeing less fentanyl-laced drugs.
He believes the profitability of fentanyl isn't what it was, and the cartels made a business decision.
“One important branch of the fentanyl cartel had exited the fentanyl business in June of 2023. The cartel killed 50 more producers who continue to produce and left the bodies stacked with fentanyl. The cartels are not thinking about what's going in Ohio, they are looking at their prices,” Couchon said.
But that doesn't mean fentanyl is going away.
The site InSight Crime, which covers the drug trade extensively, reported the arrests "..are not likely to affect the flow of synthetic drugs, especially fentanyl... because traffickers of methamphetamine and fentanyl often work semi-independently and do not necessarily depend on hierarchical organizations or the Sinaloa Cartel."
As for Totten, he hopes his story will prompt others to seek help before fentanyl kills them.
“One day clean beats 100 days of active addiction. We do recover. I’ve lived my best life in recovery,” he said.
So what is Ohio doing to address fentanyl overdoses and addiction?
The state has put into action one of the nation’s most comprehensive and aggressive strategies for fighting drug addiction and preventing overdose deaths, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
The RecoveryOhio Initiative works closely with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Department of Public Safety and many other state agencies to lead a coordinated statewide opioid response, focusing on prevention, treatment, enforcement and outreach.
In 2022, 4,915 Ohioans died from unintentional drug overdoses, a 5% decrease from 2021. That was better than the 1% increase in overdose deaths seen nationally in 2022 and was an encouraging sign for Ohio, according to state statistics.
Final numbers for 2023 won’t be official until late 2024, but preliminary data is even more encouraging than 2022’s figures. As of June 30, 2024, the number of unintentional drug overdose deaths in Ohio in 2023 stood at 4,447, a 9.5% drop from 2022.
Ohio has significantly expanded access to naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses. This includes distributing naloxone kits to first responders, law enforcement agencies, community organizations and individuals at risk of overdose.
The state debuted the website Naloxone.Ohio.gov in 2022 where Ohioans can obtain free naloxone kits.
The Ohio Department of Health’s Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided With Naloxone) program has greatly increased its naloxone distribution. The program began in 2012 and since has expanded to more than 200 partner organizations across the state.
Project DAWN has grown from distributing 47,039 naloxone kits in 2019 to 291,722 kits in 2023. The number of known overdose reversals reported to the program has grown from 8,838 in 2019 to 20,368 in 2023.
RecoveryOhio, the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission and the Ohio Department of Transportation collaborated to provide emergency naloxone access cabinets for installation on public and private college and university campuses, in rest areas and service plazas on the Turnpike. The wall-mounted emergency access cabinet, like an AED machine, is an effective and easy way to provide access to life-saving naloxone.
There are more than 130 boxes at 65 rest areas in Ohio, as well as in 14 service plazas on the Ohio Turnpike. There are 209 boxes at 49 colleges and universities.
In response to the growing prevalence of fentanyl-related overdoses, Ohio has increasingly utilized fentanyl test strips as a harm reduction tool to help individuals detect the presence of fentanyl in drugs before use.
Governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 288 into law on January 3, 2023, decriminalizing fentanyl test strips. The law took effect in April 2023. As of July 15, 2024, over 1.18 million fentanyl test strips have been ordered in Ohio.
DeWine tells 10TV he believes one reason for the decline in overdoses is Ohio’s efforts to make Narcan more available.
“We tried to change the culture for people who are using. People said, 'Oh you’re only encouraging drug use.' We now have it at rest areas, on college campuses. If we can save their lives and they can come back and get off this stuff, I think that is one of the things that is helping the deaths go down," DeWine said.
Ohio has expanded access to treatment and recovery services for individuals struggling with substance use disorders. This includes increasing funding for Medication-Assisted Treatment, counseling services and support programs.
Expansion of Opioid Treatment Programs provides an array of MAT options for patients diagnosed with opioid-use disorder, including methadone, buprenorphine products and naltrexone.
Ohio currently has 125 active OTPs. This has increased from just 35 in 2019.
In 2023, Ohio OTPs served 38,132 patients, up from 21,365 patients served in 2019.
Expansion of Recovery Housing provides safe and healthy living environments that promote abstinence from alcohol and other drugs. They also enhance participation and retention in recovery support, including medication-assisted recovery.
Key components include but are not limited to, the social model of recovery, peer support, accountability, relapse prevention strategies and employment skills training as residents transition to living independently and productively in the community.
Expansion of Peer Support is a certified peer supporter is someone who has direct lived experience with behavioral health challenges or someone who has navigated services on behalf of an individual with behavioral health challenges. Certified peer supporters are trained and certified in using their lived experience to help others impacted by mental illness or substance use disorders. Ohio offers three types of peer supporter certification: Adult, Family,and Youth/Young Adult.
Since the state fiscal year 2016, Ohio has certified 4,935 new peer supporters. Of those, 80% were added since 2019.
If you or someone needs help with addiction, you can get more information through these resources: