(Columbus, Oh.)--A survey of Ohio County Coroners, done by the Columbus Dispatch, has found more than 4,000 people died from drug overdoses last year.
The Dispatch reports Ohio's 4,149 unintentional fatal overdoses in 2016 are a 36 percent increase from the previous year when just over 3,000 deaths were reported. It is also expected that last year's total will climb as County Coroners calculate final numbers.
The newspaper says the state is among the hardest hit by the heroin and opioid epidemic and Ohio led the nation in fatal overdoses in 2014 and 2015.
The increase is being attributed to heroin and the powerful synthetic opioids fentanyl and carfentanil. Cuyahoga county, which includes Cleveland, far outpaced the rest of the state with 666 deaths in 2016. The majority of those deaths are connected to fentanyl use.