- Title: Ohio county claims top spot in America’s opioid death spiral
- Date: 21st June 2017
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCOTT WEIDLE, SON DIED FROM OPIOID OVERDOSE, SAYING: "I've watched him walk up to people he didn't know. People who looked a little desperate, down and out and he would go friend them. Something I wish I could do. He showed me that compassion." SCOTT WEIDLE READING AN ENTRY FROM DANIEL'S JOURNAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCOTT WEIDLE, SON DIED FROM OPIOID OVERDOSE, SAYING: "He knew he had an issue with this and he fought it everyday of his life." DAYTON, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OHIO, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WORKER AT MONTGOMERY COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE OPENING REAR DOOR OF MINIVAN USED TO TRANSPORT BODIES VARIOUS OF WORKER PULLING OUT STRETCHER (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEN BETZ, DIRECTOR OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE, SAYING: "It's actually somewhat out of control. We've never and I've been here 40 plus years, experienced the level of daily drug overdoses in my entire career. It's a very sad thing for our community and obviously sad for the families associated with the deaths." CORONER'S OFFICE WORKER OPENING DOOR TO BODY COOLER BODY COOLER DOOR AJAR AUTOPSY TABLE AUTOPSY TOOLS BODY PARTS WRITTEN ON BOARD IN AUTOPSY ROOM VARIOUS OF AUTOPSY SUPPLIES KEN BETZ WALKING THROUGH DOOR AT CORONER'S OFFICE LAB COAT EMBLEM THAT READS MONTGOMERY COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEN BETZ, DIRECTOR OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE, SAYING: "The pace is really out of the control for the staff. They're burned out, they're tired. We can average almost 10 bodies per day in our facility where historically 5 bodies a day was a busy day. 7 days a week, 365 days a year, our staff is just plain tired." AMBULANCE PULLING INTO HOSPITAL
- Embargoed: 5th July 2017 21:57
- Keywords: drug painkiller opioid Scott Weidle fentanyl Middletown epidemic prescription drug abuse Daniel's Law overdose deaths addiction opioid overdose Dayton Montgomery County Ohio heroin
- Location: DAYTON, OHIO / GERMANTOWN, OHIO / MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, UNITED STATES
- City: DAYTON, OHIO / GERMANTOWN, OHIO / MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA0076M8NI9Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Scott Weidle is struggling with the death of his son Daniel, who died from a heroin overdose 18 months ago, one day after Christmas.
Daniel, who was 30 when he died, was a father of three young boys: Dylan, Landon and Gavin.
"I got the call laying on the beach," Weidle, 58, said. "Worst day of my life."
Weidle, a sand and gravel contractor in Montgomery County, Ohio, said he could never have imagined his son becoming a statistic in the United States' growing opioid crisis.
"I have all kinds of emotions," he said. "One day it's outrage, one day I'm infuriated, and one day I'm in disbelief."
Opioid drugs, including prescription painkillers and heroin, killed more than 33,000 people in the United States in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An estimated 800 people in Montgomery County will die this year from drug overdose, more than double the 370 overdose deaths the county recorded last year, giving it the unfortunate distinction of logging the most overdose deaths in the country per capita, according to the county's coroner's office.
"If we stay on this pace, we could quadruple our deaths from last year," Mike Brem, captain of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, said.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid pain medication responsible for an epidemic of overdose deaths around the U.S., accounts for a significant number of the county's overdose deaths, Brem said.
Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The agency says illegally manufactured non-pharmaceutical fentanyl, and related overdoses, are a rising problem.
In May, the state of Ohio sued five major drug manufacturers, accusing them of misrepresenting the risks of prescription opioid painkillers.
The county morgue is at "full capacity all the time," Ken Betz, director of the coroner's office, said.
"We can average almost 10 bodies per day in our facility where, historically, five bodies a day was a busy day," Betz said. "Our staff is just plain tired.
"We've never experienced this level of daily drug overdoses in my entire career," he added.
Weidle continues to fight on behalf of Daniel, advocating for stricter laws to curb opioid deaths.
"He always loved to put his arm around you, always had a smile on his face," Weidle said.
"People who looked a little desperate, a little down and out ... he would go friend them. It's something I wish I could do." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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