Opioid-related ER visits more than double over past decade in Orange County

Emergency room visits resulting from opioid use have increased 141 percent over 10 years in Orange County, according to a report released Tuesday, Aug. 15, by the Health Care Agency.
Between 2005 and 2015, 7,457 residents went to hospital ERs for reasons such as opioid addiction or heroin poisoning. The report is a follow-up to an April publication on drug and alcohol deaths, which have risen 82 percent since 2000.
The new report makes note of a number of local trends:The most commonly pres