Opioid deaths continue to surge in several hard-hit cities and states, according to recent data highlighted in a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Here are seven things to know.
1. So far, the medical examiner's office in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland and is the state's most populous county, has recorded 517 deaths from heroin and fentanyl in 2016, more than double the number from the prior year, according to the report.
2. Overall, Thomas Gilson, the medical examiner in Cuyahoga County, expects to see a sharp increase in opioid deaths in Ohio for 2016. Mr. Gilson is still counting opioid overdose deaths in his county for 2016. And, according to the report, the state of Ohio is not expected conclude their statewide tally for months.
3. Pennsylvania, too, is on track to have a significant statewide rise in 2016, Patrick Trainor, a special agent in the Philadelphia office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, told The Wall Street Journal. He said Philadelphia alone may surpass 900 overdoses in 2016, up from 720 in 2015.
4. In Maryland, recent data show an estimated 1,468 overdose deaths through last September, which exceeds the total number for the entirety of 2015, according to the report.
5. The synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is up to 50 times more potent than heroin, remains the chief culprit driving the increase in fatalities, according to medical examiners and health and law enforcement authorities areas such as Ohio, Maryland and New England.
6. The New Hampshire Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recorded 159 deaths last year attributable to fentanyl alone, according to the report. The year before, the state experienced just two heroin-only deaths and 19 deaths with both drugs.
7. Fentanyl-related overdoses in North Carolina increased at least 42 percent in 2016, compared to the prior year, according to the report, which cites information from the state health department.