Overdose deaths continue to decline in Westmoreland County, down 16% in 2024

HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Wednesday marks a significant day for Carmen Capozzi.

Capozzi’s son, Sage Capozzi, was 20-years-old when he died from a heroin overdose on March 5, 2012.

“When Sage died, I was done,” Capozzi told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek. “I didn’t want to go on.”

But instead, just 10 days later, he started Sage’s Army. It’s a recovery community organization that helps people design what their recovery from addiction looks like through events, meetings, peer support, and more.

“Do you have an estimate of how many people have been through your program?” Havranek asked.

“Oh man. Thousands. Thousands,” Capozzi said.

Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson said the work Sage’s Army does, along with the Westmoreland Drug and Alcohol Commission and other community groups, the number of accidental overdose deaths continue to decline.

“It turns out our numbers are down 16% in accidental fatal overdoses,” Carson said.

According to the coroner’s annual report released Tuesday, there were 81 accidental overdose deaths in 2024, down from 95 in 2023, and down from a peak of 193 deaths in 2017.

The report shows fentanyl continues to be the leading cause of accidental overdoses in Westmoreland County, making up 62 of the 81 deaths.

The next leading cause is xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, with 34 deaths.

They’re both down from 2023 by more than 20%.

“Seeing those numbers come down has definitely been encouraging, but still, seeing our toxicology reports come back, you see that mixture with other drugs,” Carson said.

While he loves to see this trend, Capozzi said a lot of grants that help Sage’s Army and other organizations fund their programs start to dry up because they’re based on overdose death numbers. He’d like to see that change and focus on how many people are recovering thanks to the services available.

But he said he will continue to do everything he can to keep helping people.

“If he were here today, what do you think your son would say about all of this work you’ve done over the last 13 years?” Havranek asked.

“He’d say ‘keep going,’” Capozzi said. “‘Keep going, dad.’”

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