The number of people dying of drug overdoses in Broome County continues to fall.

Broome County District Attorney Stephen Cornwell Junior says from January 1 through September 30 of this year there have been 22 confirmed overdose deaths. For the same period in 2016 there were 60 and in 2017 55 people died from overdose in Broome.

Cornwell says the average age of those dying as a result of overdose so far this year is 41.  There were eight male and one female overdose deaths, all attributed to heroin or opioids.

Again, the municipality with the most o.d. deaths is the City of Binghamton.

The DA attributes the continued downward trend in Broome County’s shift in how addiction is viewed with a growing support and treatment system and a bigger view of addiction as a health issue requiring treatment rather than a character flaw or simple criminal activity.

 

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