With 2017 in the books, the Erie County Coroner's office has ruled 121 deaths as the result of drug overdoses, surpassing the previous record of 95 overdose deaths in 2016, according to GoErie.com.

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“Area drug investigators are turning up the heat on those suspected of helping to fuel the ongoing opioid epidemic in Erie County,” said GoErie.com. “Recent cases worked by state and local investigators have, in recent months, led to the seizure of significant quantities of heroin and fentanyl and to the filing of criminal charges against a handful of people accused of supplying drugs that led to an overdose death.”

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In October, President Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue. It is time to liberate our communities from the scourge of drug addiction,” he said, according to YourErie.com. “We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic.” In the following week, the President’s Commision on Combating Drug Addiction issued its final report with more than 50 recommendations to help solve the opioid crisis, reported YourErie.com.

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Addiction specialist Dr. Andrew Kolodny along with other public health experts were disappointed that the recommendations were not accompanied by funds. “You don't call it an emergency and sit around do nothing about it, and that's where we are," Kolodny said. "The doing something should be a plan from the agencies... and it should be seeking money from Congress." Kolodny continued, according to YourErie.com.

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According to Kolodny, despite the devastating overdose numbers, there may be some indicators of good news. "Even though deaths are going up among people who are addicted heroin users, who use black-market opioids ... it's possible that we are preventing less people from becoming addicted through better prescribing," said Kolodny, who is also the executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, according to YourErie.com. Although the rates of opioid prescribing remain high in the U.S., there has been a decrease from roughly 81 prescriptions per 100 people in 2010 to roughly 70 per 100 in 2017.

Allegheny Health Network and the UPMC Center for High-Value Health Care each received grant funding to bolster their work with the opioid abuse issue.

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According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “UPMC Center for High-Value Health Care will be the primary partner in overseeing administration of a $5.7 million grant from the state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The grant will expand and enhance access to medication assisted treatment services for people who abuse opioids in Blair, Clinton, Erie and Lycoming counties,” and while three other medical institutions in Pennsylvania have also received smaller grant funds, “a $1 million grant has been awarded to Allegheny Health Network for its medication-assisted opioid treatment program. The money was channeled through the Wolf administration from the $26.5 million Federal 21st Century Cures grant.”

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Although 2017 holds the record for the highest number of drug overdose deaths thus far, 2018 may have a chance to show improvements through the right actions of people who play an important role in helping solve the issue.