NEW ORLEANS — More than 200 people died from accidental drug overdoses in New Orleans in 2018, the third straight year with such numbers, according to the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office.
Once again, opiates were the dominant drug found in toxicological analysis, as they were present in 81 percent of the cases. Fentanyl was found in 106 of the victims, continuing an upward trend.
“The opiate market keeps rising towards highly lethal, less expensive, synthetic opiates such as fentanyl,” said Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna. “The number of drug overdose deaths continues to surpass the number of homicides in the city.”
McKenna’s report said that once again, in most of the drug-related deaths, multiple drugs were present with 81 percent showing evidence of opiates, 52 percent of the deceased showing evidence of cocaine and 14 percent with methamphetamine.
The numbers showed 208 people suffering accidental drug-related deaths in 2018. The number was a slight decline from 2017 (219) and 2016 (211).
The breakdown was overwhelmingly male (80 percent) and split fairly evenly racially, with 50 percent of the victims white, 48 percent black and 2 percent Hispanic.
