CLEVELAND, Ohio — There has been a dramatic rise in drug overdose deaths in some Ohio counties, hitting near record levels during the month of May.  

"We are fighting every day trying to work through COVID restrictions on treatment. The economic impact has been tremendous on those resources too, and that cannot be understated. So, everyone is kind of bare bones right now trying to deal with a drug epidemic that’s been going on for several years on top of a viral pandemic, on top of civil unrest and racial issues and police issues," said Tom Synan, Newtown police chef and co-chair of the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition.

Synan says he’s been fighting addiction across the area for several years after a heartbreaking moment forced him into action.

"Back in 2014, 2015, I got involved after I had seen an entire entire family in my community, a mother and all three of her sons, die from addiction."

Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson says at least 66 people died from an overdose in May.

"This is unusual. If it sustains itself, it’s going to put a big burden on a lot of different resources," said Dr. Gilson. "It’s a big blow to the community to start to see so many people dying."

Some experts believe restarting certain parts of the economy has led to an influx of fentanyl use. 

"We were very concerned about this because for the very heavy opiate user, their tolerances would be down, making them more susceptible to overdoses and death. But we also know that fentanyl is mixed in with cocaine, crack cocaine and methamphetamine. Those users have zero tolerance. Our concern was that if fentanyl opened up in this big influx, we would be overwhelmed with overdoses and deaths and that’s exactly what happened."

Chief Synan expects the influx of fentanyl on the street to continue for another month or two, but does believes deaths can go down if people use harm reduction techniques and if tolerances build back up.”

He specifically shared concerns about younger, recreational users socializing on weekends. 

"Anything that you’re snorting or injecting, you’re highly susceptible to having potentially fentanyl in your drug and not knowing about it. So that ends up being a challenge for the coalition because if it is someone who’s not a heavy user and they think that they’re just getting cocaine and it’s not, they’re more susceptible to overdose and death."