MONTICELLO – Twenty percent of all deaths in Sullivan County during the month of March were attributable to opioid abuse. That startling figure came from County Coroner Albee Bockman to the Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee of the County Legislature on Thursday.
Bockman said the year 2021 had similar statistics as the drug epidemic ranges on.
“We answered 296 coroner calls for the year 2021 and we performed 136 autopsies. Of those calls that we had, 296, this year we had 42 overdose deaths. Fifteen percent of all of the deaths in Sullivan County in 2021 you can attribute to the overdose epidemic that we have,” he said.
The county continues its counseling and treatment programs in an effort to reduce opioid dependance and deaths.
