OLEAN — Cattaraugus County Health Department officials aren’t sure why, but heroin/opioid overdose deaths have dropped significantly this year.

Dr. Kevin Watkins, county public health director, told members of the county’s Heroin/Opioid Task Force Friday that only two overdose deaths have been reported during the first five months of this year.

That compares to 11 heroin/opioid overdose deaths the department reported in 2017, Watkins said.

It seems to Watkins that the work of the task force has helped reduce the number of opioid deaths. The presence of fentanyl in much of the heroin available in Western New York made addicts more wary and the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force has been active in Cattaraugus County, he said.

Unfortunately, Watkins continued, “We are seeing an uptick in methamphetamine. We’re seeing a lot of meth labs. We’re going to have to address this problem very soon.”

Watkins is co-chairman of the task force with Mary O’Leary, county director of community services.

In addition, the use by EMS, fire and police of Narcan, an opioid antidote, has also dropped. Narcan usage in 2015 was 42, climbing to 68 in 2016, down to 45 in 2017 and only 13 so far this year, said Jeff Ciminesi, program development coordinator at Southern Tier Health Care System Inc.

While it’s hard to compare the stronger single-dose nasal spray now in use, “there’s a downward trend in Narcan use,” Ciminesi said.

Southern Tier Health Care System has trained nearly 1,300 individuals including police, fire and EMS personnel, school staff, friends and family and other service providers.

Upcoming Narcan training sessions are June 20 at the Ellicottville Library and June 22 at Southern Tier Health Care System’s Olean office.

Ciminesi said a new real-time smartphone app is in the early stages of mapping heroin/opioid overdoses.

State health officials classified only seven of the county’s 11 deaths last year as caused primarily by a heroin/opioid overdose.

Watkins said he’s not sure the state will recognize the two 2018 overdose deaths because of the presence of multiple drugs — including Fentanyl — in toxicology tests.

In 2016, the county registered 10 heroin/opioid overdose deaths, but the state said officially only seven were heroin/opioid deaths because of multiple drugs showing up in toxicology screens. The state Department of Health registered 11 heroin/opioid overdose deaths in 2015 in the county.

“The heroin/opioid deaths in our community are starting to level out,” Watkins said during the task force meeting at Good Times of Olean. “I think the task force here has done a great job.”

The task force, comprised of more than two dozen agencies, was formed two years ago when heroin overdose deaths in the county were spiking.

Watkins reported more than 35 local healthcare providers attended a recent training in Olean to encourage the use of pain management without opioids. A session is expected to be offered for area dentists next, Watkins said.

“There are a lot of different ways to manage pain,” he said.

Cattaraugus County has one of the highest rates of opioid prescription in Western New York.

Acetaminophen and other anti-inflammatory drugs “can be just as good as opioids,” Watkins said. “There’s no reason to use opioids as a first line” drug for pain management. Providers are looking “to wean a number of their patients off opioids.”

As the Council on Addiction Recovery Services (CAReS) looks forward to the completion in August of its new 20-bed facility for women in Westons Mills, there are concerns that because insurance agreements are not in place, the new treatment facility may not open as soon as hoped. The adjacent 16-bed CAReS treatment facility for men is full.

Nichole Zink, Child Protective Services supervisor for the Department of Social Services, said her department has seen a fall-off of families affected by heroin addiction. The heroin epidemic has led to an increase not only in meth use, but cocaine and crack cocaine, she said.

(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)