Toledo’s proximity to the Lake Erie shoreline and the Ohio-Michigan border has historically made it a major corridor for drug trafficking, which has contributed to the city’s elevated overdose rates for over a decade.
Fentanyl remains the driving force behind most overdose deaths in Lucas County. However, public health officials have noted a meaningful decline in fatalities over the past few years, from a peak of 344 deaths in 2020 to 223 in 2024. That progress is attributed in part to expanded naloxone distribution and a growth in treatment capacity across the region.
At the county level, the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County (MHRSB) funds and oversees a network of community treatment providers and coordinates the Toledo Lucas County Opiate Coalition, the region’s primary body for tracking and responding to the opioid crisis.
One initiative unique to this region is the Lucas County Drug Abuse Response Team (DART), a unit of the Lucas County Sheriff’s Department that connects people seeking help with affordable treatment options throughout the community.
The University of Toledo Medical Center also operates an inpatient behavioral health unit with detox services, giving Toledo residents access to hospital-level care when medically complex withdrawal requires that level of supervision.
For anyone uncertain about how to choose a detox center, DART and the MHRSB’s information lines are good starting points.
