ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — 792. That is the number of people in Monroe County who have experienced a drug overdose so far this year, as of the end of June, according to the Monroe County Opioid Dashboard. Sixty-two of those were potentially fatal.
While recent CDC data shows drug overdose deaths are decreasing, local officials say minority groups are still facing challenges.
“We didn’t see a comparable decline in communities of color, however. So there still is a very long way to go. I do think that stigma has a lot to do with that, and so seeing the human before you see the behavior or the symptom — that’s something that we try really hard to do here at Trillium Health,” said Julia Ritzler-Shelling, Senior Director of Harm Reduction Services at Trillium Health…