Federal government officials took a cautious victory lap Friday by boasting about a drop in opioid-related deaths in the region, including Butler County.

Figures provided by the Butler County Coroner's Office show that the trend in the county is similar to surrounding counties. Over the past year, there has been a reduced number of people who died from overdoses. In the county, there were 41 deaths in the past year. In 2017, 92 people died of overdoses in the county. But U.S. Attorney Scott Brady and representatives from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation and state police weren't happy with the results Friday.

“There will be no sense of celebration,” Brady said, adding that any number of deaths higher than zero is a problem.

There were also outliers in the region, with Mercer and Clarion marking an increase in overdose fatalities.

This is an excerpt — read the full article in Sunday's Butler Eagle.