Annual coroner’s report released, overdose deaths are steady

WARREN COUNTY, Ky. – Overdose deaths are down by 2 for 2022, ending the year off at 28.

With drug deaths down, we could consider that good news but it still averages out to be at least 2 deaths via overdose a year.

The warren county sheriff’s office along with their drug task force and BGPD are doing what they can but the task force executive director said admittedly their are drugs they miss, which is the nature of the beast because it is simply impossible to catch them all.

Task force director Tommy Loving said that they made good progress last year with a fentanyl bust of around 14,000 pills last year and this year with a meth transport bust upwards of 500,000 dollars. According to the coroner’s report, drug overdoses doubled from 2020 to 2021 going from 15 to 30. Fentanyl cases are also up 350 percent according to Loving in recent years.

Brett Hightower, Warren County Sheriff spoke highly of Narcan, saying that almost every month someone is saved due to the drug and that without it the numbers we see currently would be much higher.

So far the trend is down as far as deaths are concerned but the drug epidemic that is going on across the country istriking Warren County just as much. Loving told News 40 in his interview that currently, Kentucky overdose deaths are 70 percent Fentanyl and 30 percent meth.