More than 59,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016, according to a recent analysis by the New York Times.

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50, the Times reported Monday. Cautioning that the data are preliminary, the Times estimated drug deaths rose 19percent over the 52,404 recorded in 2015. And all evidence suggests the problem has continued to worsen in 2017.

It's worsening here, as well.

This year, from Jan. 1 to the end of May, there were 468 drug overdoses in Allen County, Fort Wayne Police Capt. Kevin Hunter said Thursday. During the same period in 2016, there were267 drug overdoses.

As of this week, overdoses have led to 35 confirmed deaths; toxicology results are awaited in 15 other fatalities. It's likely, Hunter said, that those will also be confirmed as drug deaths.

In all of 2016, there were 68 overdoses.

Nationally and locally, the increases in deaths are being driven by addictions to opioid pills and heroin. Hunter, who leads the Fort Wayne department's drug-fighting efforts, said his officers also are seeing an increase in overdoses caused by the synthetic cannabinoids known as spice, though to his knowledge none of the spice victims has died.

Authorities have tried manynew strategies locally and statewide, tightening access to opioid medicines, improvingtraining formedical workers, making naloxone the overdose antidote more widely available and, recently in Fort Wayne, trying to follow the drugs that caused overdoses back to their sources. But as the problem shows no signs of abating, more attention has shifted to the need for more resources to treat addicts. Even with more federal and state funds being allocated, there's a sense that treatment facilities can't keep up.

In Ohio, where the Times estimated overdose deaths there increased by 25percent last year,officials adopted a strategy Indiana should consider. The state sued the pharmaceutical industry, contending that misleading marketing campaigns fooled patients and doctors into believing opioids were safe.

Modeled on legal actions against the tobacco industry in the 1990s, the opioid lawsuits are viewed as a way to raise funds to fight health problems it can be argued the companies involved helped create.

West Virginia won a similar lawsuit that will provide the state tens of millions of dollars, the Times reported, and lawsuits also have been filed by Mississippi, the city of Chicago and by counties in several states.

We are aware of the filings in Ohio and will be following this lawsuit closely, Attorney General Curtis Hill said in a statement emailed to The Journal Gazette Thursday. We are also aware of actions and litigation occurring in other states in this regard. My office has been and will continue to gather information and monitor these various actions as we consider the best course of action for the state of Indiana.

Thescope of the drug problem demands that dramatic solutions be considered.

In addition to fighting opioids and spice, local police are seeing an increase in crystal meth from Mexico which offsets the good news that the numberof homegrown meth labs here has dropped dramatically. And, Hunter said, his department is bracing to deal with more cocaine, which is reportedly making a comeback in other communities.

I don't expect that things will get any better soon, Hunter said.

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New war on drugs - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette