Hamilton County may soon be better able to determine the local extent of the deadly drug epidemic sweeping the nation. A bill in the state legislature mandates that a list of drugs found through a required toxicology screen be listed for a deceased person where a drug overdose is suspected. That information is to be forwarded to the state health department.
The legislation, Senate Bill 74, is sponsored by Sen. James Merritt who represents a portion of Hamilton County, and co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Buck who also represents Hamilton County.
At present, it is difficult to be certain of what drugs have caused death or even that drugs were the cause when a sudden death is reported. Sometimes death certificates simply state that death was caused by failure of a certain organ: kidneys, heart, etc.
County Coroner John Chalfin says the state Coroners’ Association asked for the legislation. Chalfin is very much in favor of the proposed new statute. “I think it will help,” he said. Chances of the bill passing into law look good, the coroner believes. The proposed new law requires that each drug found shall be listed.
Until now, often only in coroner’s cases is there certainty that drug abuse was the cause of death.
Because of the stigma associated with illegal drug use, some medical professionals apparently try to spare a victim’s family by avoiding the mention of drug abuse as the principal cause of death. This makes it difficult for officials to get an accurate count on the number of drug victims.
It has been especially hard to get an accurate count on drug deaths in Hamilton County because an overdose victim is sometimes taken to a Marion County hospital. If the victim dies, there is no requirement that local authorities be notified of the cause of death even if it is accurately recorded.
The number of suspected heroin fatalities in this county has been increasing in recent years. Some officials have called it an epidemic. Most, but not all, of those succumbing to drug abuse are young males in their 20s and 30s. Many authorities have remained quiet on the subject, often because they do not know themselves of the number of fatal and near-fatal cases.