7 Deaths, 5 Hours: Drug Overdoses Surge in Western New York

The first 911 call came at 8:18 a.m. from the city of Buffalo. Not long after, there was another in neighboring Tonawanda, and then another from Lackawanna, just to the south. Eight minutes after that, a second call from Buffalo, just before another one from Tonawanda.

Seven deaths in less than five hours, all drug overdoses, and all within Erie County, the biggest population center in Western New York and the home of a surging and intractable drug problem. The spate of deaths, on June 17, pushed the county’s tally of overdose deaths this year past 200, putting it on track to match or surpass the grim record of 435 set last year even as the United States saw a slight decline in such deaths.

The crisis knows no bounds, officials say.

“This is from the most wealthiest areas in Erie County, and the poorest sections of the inner city,” said John Garcia, the county’s sheriff. “This is Black and white, male and female. It does not discriminate.”

Overdose deaths have touched cities across the country, including Baltimore, where 6,000 people have died over the past six years.

In some ways, drug deaths have become so common that the Erie County toll of June 17 seemed to barely register beyond relatives, frontline workers and officials who have been fighting what they call “an epidemic.”

Elected officials say that Erie County’s struggle comes despite a yearslong effort to combat the problem, including an overdose prevention task force and access to anti-overdose drugs and addiction counseling.