Manitowoc County Coroner Curtis Green provided some statistics this week about the number of accidental deaths in the county.
During an appearance on WOMT’s Be My Guest program, Green expressed concern over the high amount of alcohol deaths here.
“When we’re talking about intoxicants, last year we had 25 alcohol-related deaths and those were people with long-term alcohol issues,” he revealed.
The coroner compared that to the number of drug overdose fatalities, saying last year, “We had 18 drug overdoses and that’s not uncommon. Sometimes we’re hitting in the low 30’s as far as alcohol/drug deaths.”
As for why that number is lower than in previous years, he theorized it could be related to “law enforcement having the NARCAN out there and NARCAN being available to families whose loved ones have those issues.”
Green listed numbers of overdose deaths in the last four years as 16, 14, 17, and 18.
He also explained, “a lot of people don’t realize that alcohol is a drug, and it takes a little longer to stop your heart than the synthetic opioid Fentanyl for example.”
