KOSCIUSKO COUNTY —You always hear people say it doesn’t happen here. But the opioid epidemic, with overdoses and deaths, is happening here, just as it is nationally. And it is a concern of local health and public safety officials.

Kosciusko County Coroner Tony Ciriello reported there have been 18 overdose deaths directly related to opioids thus far this year. Last year that total was 11, more than a 60 percent increase. “Overdose deaths in this county continue to rise every year due to opioids. While it is true that most people think of heroin as the opioid of choice, that is not the total case,” Ciriello said. “There are many legally manufactured and prescribed opioids causing the deaths more than heroin.”

The trend Ciriello is seeing is staggering and scary. The deaths have ranged in age from teenagers to adults in their 40s. All but one of these has been attributed to an accident as a manner of death. “The average age is mid to late 20s,” Ciriello added.

He notes those opioids, which have caused these 18 deaths are morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, just to name a few. “When used properly they serve a valuable medical use, but these deaths are not a result of them being used properly and as prescribed.” He also noted in some cases marijuana and amphetamines have also been found in the the victim’s system but in a lot there has been more than one type of opioid.

Twelve of those individuals have died in the county and six have died in Allen County after being transferred to a hospital for further treatment.

Ciriello stated one of the issues is the people are using opioids prescribed to someone else or being purchased from other individuals. “Law enforcement is diligently working to try to combat the problem,” Ciriello said.

“If we had two shootings in a month, or two fatal car crashes it would catch the public’s eye more. We are losing two persons every month to prescription drug abuse.

“As a coroner it frightens me to see such an increase in these deaths this year and these numbers are going to continue to rise. At the level we have experienced so far this year, we are on track to see close to two dozen of these deaths just in our county.

“This crisis has many concerned and has an impact on our entire community, similar to the meth problem we had a few years back,” Ciriello added.

There are some things every individual can do to help curb the problem. Such actions include not leaving prescription medication in a vehicle, locked or unlocked. Keep a close watch on the location of prescription medications. Often women will carry prescription medication in their purses. This makes it easy for someone to take a few tablets without the medication being missed. Many do not count the number of pills remaining in a prescription after doses are taken.

The public can also alert police to any kind of suspicious activity and suspected drug activity.

Another alarming fact is the county is already eight cases short in coroner investigated deaths over last year. From Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2016, there were 95 cases. This year the total has reached 87 so far. These include unattended deaths, suicides, fatal car crashes, drownings and drug overdoses.

So far there are no statistics available on how many lives the use of Narcan has saved.