Through the first half of 2015, Kanawha County has equaled the number of heroin-related overdose deaths that occurred in the county last year and is on pace to record the county's most overdose deaths in a single year.
There have been 62 overdose deaths in Kanawha County so far this year, 22 of which are heroin related, according to preliminary overdose data obtained Tuesday from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
At the current rate, Kanawha County could see a record number of overdose deaths.
In 2014, the county recorded 85 total overdoses, 22 of which were heroin related, making it the highest total in a single year since 2008.
The preliminary totals for this year indicate that, for the third straight year, Kanawha will have seen more than 20 people die from heroin.
In 2013, the county had 20 overdose deaths to heroin, which, at the time, was the most seen in the past decade.
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While this year's overdose data is preliminary, it consists of deaths as a result of overdoses that occurred between January and July, according to Allison Adler, a spokeswoman for the DHHR.
The figures, which still are being verified by health officials, could change as medical examiners await toxicology results.
The total number of overdoses so far this year indicates that Kanawha County has an overdose death rate of 32.5 per 100,000 people, according to a Gazette-Mail analysis of the drug data and 2014 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, giving it the seventh-highest overdose rate in the state. At the top of the list was Wyoming County, with 57.5 deaths per 100,000 people. Through the first seven months of this year, 13 Wyoming County residents have died from overdoses. However, none of those deaths were heroin related.
Cabell County, which has recorded 48 overdose deaths this year, 22 of which have been attributed to heroin, has the second-highest overdose rate, with 49.4 deaths per 100,000 people.
Logan County, which has seen 14 overdose deaths this year, comes in at No. 3, with 39.6 deaths per 100,000 people.
"We're dealing with heroin on a daily basis," said Charleston police Lt. Eric Johnson, commander of the Metro Drug Unit.
Johnson, who noted that he had spent the better part of Tuesday morning dealing with a significant drug seizure, said, "It's sad to see the results of the damage."
Johnson said the people involved in the current heroin epidemic are unlike other drug users.
"Most users are people who have become addicted to prescription opioids in the past," he said. "There are a lot of people who are currently addicts who once had very successful lives."
Chaplain Mike Jarrett, of the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority, said people who are addicted to heroin are not simply "hippies sitting around in a psychedelic room."
"These are people driving the streets right now," he said.
Jarrett said most people use the drug as an escape rather than an addiction.
"They just want their lives not to be bad," he said.
When asked about the fact that Kanawha County has seen as many heroin overdoses this year as all of last year, Jarrett said he wasn't surprised.
"It's a medical emergency," he added.
Jarrett said one of the issues that comes with so many people overdosing each day - which he estimated at two or three - is that ambulances are tied up, which strains the system.
"Obviously, there's an ongoing problem and we're addressing it as best we can," said Sgt. Mike Wentz, of the Cabell County Sheriff's Department.
Wentz said that, although the latest figures indicate the number of overdoses is still too high, he believes things can improve.
"It's just going to take time - and agencies working together," he said.
The latest data indicate that 22 counties have overdose rates higher than 13 percent, which was the national average between 2011 and 2013. Only 10 out of West Virginia's 55 counties have not recorded an overdose death through July 2015.
Since 2010, about 2,900 West Virginians have died as a result of overdosing on opioids.
Last year, the state recorded 628 overdose deaths, 165 of which were heroin related.
Through the first half of 2015, there have been more than 360 overdose deaths; 97 have been because of heroin.
Jarrett said President Barack Obama's visit to Charleston to discuss the ongoing heroin and prescription drug epidemic should be a sign for action.
"If that's not a wake up call for the state, I think it should be," he said.
For an interactive map showing the county-by-county breakdown of drug overdose deaths, visit http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/data/2015/10/20/2015 -drug-overdoses.
For a brief overview on how the Mountain State's opioid crisis landed West Virginia a presidential visit, check out https://joelebert.atavist .com/a-presidential-visit.
Reach Joel Ebert at joel.ebert@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @joelebert29 on Twitter.