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A drug user prepares heroin for injection.

(New York Times)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Heroin deaths in Onondaga County increased nearly 31 percent in 2015, according to preliminary numbers from the county health department.

There were 34 heroin deaths last year, up from 26 in 2014. The numbers have climbed steadily since 2010 when there was one heroin death in the county. The numbers include Onondaga County residents only.

» Graphic: Onondaga County heroin deaths climb

The 2015 heroin death numbers, posted on the department's website, may increase because there are pending cases still under investigation by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office.

While heroin use has increased across most demographic groups, heroin-related deaths occurred most frequently among white males, ages 20 to 29, according to the health department.

An epidemic of heroin and prescription painkiller abuse has created what county Health Commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta has called a "public health crisis."

Experts who spoke last week at two public forums in the Syracuse area on the drug problem said many people who abuse prescription painkillers move on to heroin, which is widely available and cheaper than painkillers. Heroin and painkillers are called "opioids" because the addictive drugs create opium-like effects. Painkillers and heroin have similar effects on the body, which is why addicts often use the drugs interchangeably.

Onondaga County's heroin death rate was higher than the state and national rates in 2014. It's too soon to know how Onondaga County's 2015 heroin death rate compares because state and national heroin death data for 2015 are not available yet.

Total opioid deaths in Onondaga County climbed to 57 in 2015, up from 48 in 2014, a nearly 19 percent increase, according to preliminary numbers. Opioids include heroin, morphine, fentanyl, oxycodone, oxycontin, oxymorphone, acetylfentanyl, methadone, hydrocodone and hydromorphone.

Opioid deaths in Onondaga County have more than doubled since 2010 when there were 24 deaths.

Opioid deaths in 2015 occurred more than twice as often in males than in females, and 84 percent of the people who died were white.

More than half of the opioid deaths last year involved people ages 21 to 40.

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