The Oregonian, Feb. 4, 2013Police released the latest heroin overdose statistics Tuesday after the weekend death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman put the problem back in the national spotlight. Hoffman was found dead Sunday in a New York apartment with a syringe in his arm and dozens of packets of what appears to be heroin nearby.
In the metro area, Multnomah County had 55 confirmed heroin overdose deaths last year, down from 90 deaths in 2012 and 95 deaths in 2011. Clackamas County had eight heroin overdose deaths last year and Clackamas County had 12.
Statewide, heroin killed 147 people, mostly young men, in 2012, the latest year overall figures are available. That accounted for 65 percent of the illegal drug deaths in the state that year, said state medical examiner Dr. Karen Gunson. In 2011, 143 people died in Oregon from heroin…