About 15 percent more people died last year in Maryland from alcohol and drug overdoses than in 2011, and state health officials are pointing to a large spike in heroin deaths as the leading cause.
Between 2011 and 2012, fatal heroin overdoses increased from 241 to 378, a 54 percent increase, according to a new study released Wednesday. The spike in deaths was found in all demographics and in all regions of the state, the study found.
During the same period, deaths from overdoses on prescription opioids decreased by 12 percent, also across all demographics and regions of the state, the study found.
The findings seem to confirm what health officials had warned of late last year, when heroin and opioid overdose figures were trending in similar directions: that a recent law enforcement crackdown on prescription drugs had led some drug users back to the streets, and thus back to heroin.
In the first seven months of 2012, heroin overdoses had increased year over year by 41 percent. Health officials said they would begin implementing new programs to stem the tide.
The rise follows success in decreasing the use of heroin in the state between 2007 and 2011, health officials said.
On Wednesday, with the release of the year-end data, officials vowed to continue that fight.
"We are taking action to address this serious public health concern," said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the state's health secretary, in a statement.
The state held sessions with local jurisdictions to share information about heroin treatment and to help them develop response plans.
Now, it is continuing its efforts by hosting education programs for medical workers treating people for opioid abuse; training individuals to administer naloxone, a prescription drug that can intervene with a person's ability to absorb heroin during an overdose; and establishing "multi-disciplinary overdose fatality review teams to improve data sharing and coordinate prevention activities," the health department said.
On Aug. 9, Gov. Martin O'Malley will "attend a roundtable with law enforcement and public health authorities" to discuss the issue.
Local jurisdictions will hold their own events, the health department said.
Among other findings of the study:
• Prescription opioid deaths decreased the most among those under 25 years old. They increased by 56 percent among those 55 and older.
• The most dramatic of prescription death decreases was a 17 percent decrease in oxycodone-related deaths.
• Alcohol overdose deaths increased by 13 percent, despite falling among those 45 and under. The number of alcohol-related deaths remained stable among whites and Hispanics, but increased by 62 percent among blacks.
• Total number of overdose deaths remained steady in Western Maryland and on the Eastern Shore. However, they increased by 20 percent in Central and Southern Maryland, and by nearly 30 percent in Baltimore and Prince George's County.
• Total deaths increased among whites by 13 percent; they increased among blacks by 34 percent.
• Total deaths increased by 17 percent among males, 10 percent among females.
• Total deaths increased the most among those older than 55, where a 40 percent jump was seen.
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