A dubious distinction for the Buckeye State in a government report released, Wednesday.
Drug overdoses killed 4,329 Ohioans in 2016, the second-highest death rate in the nation. That’s up 24 percent over the 3,310 drug deaths the previous year, according to a report released Thursday by the federal government, and slightly higher than the 4,149 reported by The Columbus Dispatch last spring based on data compiled from county coroners.
Despite increased government spending, Ohio’s rate of drug-overdose deaths, 39.1 per 100,000 people, trailed only West Virginia’s 52 per 100,000 population.