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County of Ventura issues Special Report — 2019 Fatal Overdoses

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VENTURA COUNTY — 1,651 deaths were reported to the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office during calendar year 2019. Jurisdiction was accepted for 826 of these deaths, requiring further investigation and certification. Postmortem examinations were performed on 585 cases. Of the cases investigated, 149 deaths were due to medications, alcohol and or illicit drugs.

Of the 149 deaths, 128 were accidents, 17 were suicide and four deaths were undetermined. Of the overdose deaths, men accounted for 107 deaths (71.8%) and women accounted for 42 deaths (28.2%).

Multiple drugs or medications may be involved in one case; therefore, one should not add the numbers of individual substances. The same case may be represented multiple times by different drugs or drug categories. Deaths by city are based on the location of death which may not be the same location as where the overdose occurred.

Noteworthy trends:

  1. 1)  Total overdose deaths between 2018 and 2019 decreased by 21. Compared to the previous year, accidental overdoses for 2019 decreased by 28 while suicidal overdoses increased by 4.
  2. 2)  Except for overdoses involving ethanol, deaths from all drug types and categories decreased compared to 2018 (opioid, heroin, fentanyl, benzodiazepine, methamphetamine and cocaine).
  3. 3)  The highest number of overdose deaths in 2019 were between ages 51 to 60 years (45 deaths)and the majority of these deaths involved methamphetamine (25 deaths).

149
128

General Drug Death Statistics 2019

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64

page1image3706624 page1image3707040

85

Total OD Accidental OD single substance mixed substance

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* In 2019, four overdose deaths were ruled undetermined (accident versus suicide)

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Ventura County

Medical Examiner’s Office

300 Hillmont Avenue, Lot I Ventura, CA 93003-3099 Phone (805) 641-4400 FAX (805) 658-4598

Christopher R. Young, M.D.

Chief Medical Examiner

Othon J. Mena, M.D.

Assistant Chief Medical Examiner

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180
160
140
120
100

80 60 40 20

0

165 170
149

156 142

128

General Drug Death Statistics: 2016-2019

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116

105

2016

2017
2018
2019

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11

23
13

17

Total OD Deaths

Accident OD Deaths

Suicide OD Deaths

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10

0

77

Accidental Overdose by Drug 2019

61

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33 33

17

20

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8
2

opioid
heroin
fentanyl benzodiazepine ethanol methamphetamine cocaine

fentanyl analog

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Drug type

Number of Deaths

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Ventura County

Medical Examiner’s Office

300 Hillmont Avenue, Lot I Ventura, CA 93003-3099 Phone (805) 641-4400 FAX (805) 658-4598

Christopher R. Young, M.D.

Chief Medical Examiner

Othon J. Mena, M.D.

Assistant Chief Medical Examiner

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120
100
 80
 60
 40
 20
  0

Accidental Overdose by Drug: 2016-2019

92 96
77 78

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55

61

20

37 40 35 34 40 50 33 33 31 33

17 18 16 20

22 8

20

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12 7 9 8

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2016 2017

2018 2019

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2019 Drug Death By Age

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81-90 71-80 61-70 51-60 41-50 31-40 25-30 18-24

1-17

1
5

8 1

21

27 22

19

45

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0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Number of Deaths

Death by Age (yrs)

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Ventura County

Medical Examiner’s Office

300 Hillmont Avenue, Lot I Ventura, CA 93003-3099 Phone (805) 641-4400 FAX (805) 658-4598

Christopher R. Young, M.D.

Chief Medical Examiner

Othon J. Mena, M.D.

Assistant Chief Medical Examiner

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2019 Death By Age: Benzodiazepine, Fentanyl, Methamphetamine, and Heroin

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81 to 90 71 to 80 61 to 70 51 to 60 41 to 50 31 to 40 25 to 30 18 to 24

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1 to 17

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Number of Deaths

Heroin Benzodiazepine Fentanyl Methamphetamine

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50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10

5 0

45
38

2019 Fatal Overdose By Location of Death

page4image3678752 page4image2988192page4image3679376page4image3679584 page4image4981632page4image3680208page4image3680416page4image3680624

18
14

13

page4image3680832 page4image2988304page4image3681456 page4image2963888 page4image903360

5433

111111

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Death by Age (yrs)

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Ventura County

Medical Examiner’s Office

300 Hillmont Avenue, Lot I Ventura, CA 93003-3099 Phone (805) 641-4400 FAX (805) 658-4598

Christopher R. Young, M.D.

Chief Medical Examiner

Othon J. Mena, M.D.

Assistant Chief Medical Examiner

page5image1693296 page5image1703072 page5image1691840

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Ventura

Thousand Oaks

1

Accidental Fatal Overdose by City and Drug * Only cities with higher numbers of deaths included

9 7

8

8

10

26

Ethanol

Cocaine

Benzodiazepine

Fentanyl Analog

Methampheta mine

Opioid Fentanyl Heroin

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20

page5image1696832 page5image1740224 page5image1697040 page5image1743360

12
3

4 4

3

5

page5image1754336 page5image1697872 page5image1754784 page5image1698080 page5image1755008 page5image1698288 page5image1757920 page5image1698704 page5image1758144

2

page5image1698912

2

page5image1758368

4

5 3

2

1

3

page5image1699328 page5image1699536 page5image1758592 page5image1699744 page5image1758816 page5image1699952 page5image1759040 page5image1700160 page5image1759264

1

page5image1700368

1

page5image1759488

1

page5image1700576

1

page5image1759712

1

page5image1700784

12 2

3

5

page5image1759936 page5image1700992 page5image1760160

3

page5image1701200 page5image1760384 page5image1701408

2

page5image1701616

16

page5image1701824 page5image1760608 page5image1702240 page5image1760832 page5image1702448 page5image1703488

Simi Valley

Santa Paula

Port Hueneme

Oxnard

12 1

1

6

5

20

23

page5image1761056 page5image1761280 page5image1703696 page5image3670016 page5image3670224 page5image3670432 page5image3670640 page5image3671264 page5image1761504 page5image3671472 page5image1761728page5image1761952 page5image3671680page5image1762176 page5image3671888page5image1762400

12

page5image3672096 page5image1762624

3

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Camarillo

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0 5 10 15 20 25 30

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Ventura County

Medical Examiner’s Office

300 Hillmont Avenue, Lot I Ventura, CA 93003-3099 Phone (805) 641-4400 FAX (805) 658-4598

Christopher R. Young, M.D.

Chief Medical Examiner

Othon J. Mena, M.D.

Assistant Chief Medical Examiner

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2019 Fatal Overdose by Month

14 13 13 12 12

10109 9 10 888
6

12 12 12

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42222 322 01 11100

Accident Suicide

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Accidental Deaths: Illicit vs. Prescription Drug Deaths

77

7

21

prescription combined illicit other

23

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* Prescription drugs refers to medications commonly obtained through prescription; however, in some deaths, the prescription drugs may have been illicitly obtained.