Drug deaths in King County continue to climb, report says

In the King County Medical Examiner's report on 2004 deaths, "the one number that's jumped is the drug deaths," said Matias Valenzuela, a spokesman for Public Health — Seattle & King County.

And more recent statistics indicate deaths from overdoses of prescription opiates such as methadone and oxycodone are still on the rise, according to Dr. Richard Harruff, King County's chief medical examiner.

Accidental drug overdoses accounted for 211 deaths in 2004, compared with 159 in 2003, according to the report, released Wednesday. Those deaths made up 40 percent of all accidental deaths last year, excluding traffic accidents.

In 67 other drug-related deaths in 2004, 41 were suicides; in the remainder of the cases, death investigators couldn't determine if an overdose was intentional, the report says.

Heroin overdoses peaked in 1998 with 151 deaths, said Dr. Richard Harruff, King County's chief medical examiner. That same year, 20 people fatally overdosed on methadone and six on oxycodone. The three drugs are the most common opiates, with methadone and oxycodone most often prescribed for chronic pain relief, Harruff said.

In 2004, there were 80 heroin deaths, 66 methadone deaths and 32 oxycodone deaths; the previous year, 75 people fatally overdosed on heroine, 51 on methadone and 17 on oxycodone, Harruff said.

Between January and September of this year, 63 people fatally overdosed on methadone and 25 on oxycodone, Harruff said.

Information

Full report: www.metrokc.gov/health/examiner
/2004report/index.htm

"It's pretty obvious from our statistics that it's getting a bit out of hand," he said. "The soaring rate of oxycodone and methadone fatal overdoses has markedly increased and it's [a phenomenon that's been] recognized nationwide."

Since September, death investigators have been collecting more information on fatal prescription-drug overdoses and are working with University of Washington researchers on a short-term study that will be presented to the county's Board of Health next year, Harruff said.

Fewer homicides

The medical examiner's report also shows that King County had seventeen fewer homicides in 2004 than in 2003, and the number of people who committed suicide rose for the fourth year in a row.

County death investigators handled 76 homicide cases in 2004, down from 93 in 2003. That compares with 93 in 2002, 74 in 2001 and 73 in 2000.

Investigators handled 229 suicides last year, compared with 217 in 2003, 200 in 2002, 185 in 2001 and 178 in 2000.

Of the 76 homicides investigated last year, firearms were used to kill 61 percent of the victims, the report says, and 42 percent of people who committed suicide used a gun. In 2003, guns were used in 56 percent of homicides and 47 percent of suicides.

Of the 12,648 deaths in the county last year, 7,872 were reported to the medical examiner, according to the annual report released Wednesday.

The office is not responsible for investigating all those deaths, only those that are sudden, unexpected, suspicious or violent. In 2004, 1,863 deaths were investigated, compared with 1,815 in 2003.

The 2004 investigations include 195 deaths that occurred in King County but stemmed from incidents outside the county, according to the 116-page report.