CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County residents continue to die at a rapid clip from heroin and fentanyl overdoes after a deadly 2016.
Fourteen people died this weekend in suspected heroin and fentanyl overdoses, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner. Some 24 total have died from the drugs in the first five days of the month.
There were at least 46 heroin and fentanyl deaths in January. That number could rise to 57 after toxicology tests are finalized, according to the medical examiner.
The death-rate for heroin, fentanyl and other opiate deaths have skyrocketed from 64 in 2011 to at least 517 in 2016, according to the medical examiner.
The medical examiner has not yet put out its final report on exactly how many deaths have been attributed to opiates for 2016. But the county more than doubled the number of deaths in 2015, the worst on record at the time.
Of the 14 who died from Friday through Sunday, 12 were from Cleveland, one was from Willowick and one was from Brook Park.
The youngest victim was 25 and the oldest was 57. Nine were black, one was Indian and four were white, according to the medical examiner's data.
The 46 confirmed heroin and fentanyl overdose cases in January ranged in age from 23 to 67. Thirty-two were men and 14 were women, the medical examiner said. Thirty-two victims were white, 13 were black and one was Hispanic.
The victims lived throughout Cuyahoga County and elsewhere. Twenty-three were Cleveland residents, three were from Lakewood, and there was one each from Beachwood, Berea, Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, Euclid, Garfield Heights, Independence, Maple Heights, Middleburg Heights, Newburgh Heights, Olmsted Township and Parma.
The eight out-of-county residents who died in Cuyahoga County were from Brunswick, Canal Fulton, Columbia Station, Concord, New London and Wickliffe. Two were from North Ridgeville, the medical examiner said.
The medical examiner also said there was a spike in cocaine-related deaths in January, including 19 who died from doses of the drug mixed with heroin, fentanyl or both.
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