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7 Times More Heroin Seized Than In Same Period Last Year
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio troopers say they seized about seven times as much heroin during the first half of 2016 as they did during the same period last year.
The State Highway Patrol attributes the increase at least in part to several large drug busts.
The rise comes amid other signs that Ohio’s opiate problems continue to grow. The Cleveland area saw 15 overdose deaths in a recent three-day span that were attributed to heroin, the synthetic opiate fentanyl or a combination of those.
Customs officials in Cincinnati seized 10 pounds of heroin in one summer shipment.
And in Columbus, the coroner just launched an Opiate Crisis Task Force. She says about half of Franklin County’s overdose deaths in the past two years were heroin-related, and the numbers could be higher for 2016.