Painkiller Overdoses Outpacing Traffic Deaths; Leaders Call For Action
October 27, 2016 at 6:06 p.m.
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Five years ago, Warsaw police detective RJ Nethaway said he would typically come across needles used for heroin about twice a year.
“Last week, we stopped a car with 42 needles in it,” Nethaway said.
And according to Kosciusko County Coroner Tony Ciriello, more people are dying from overdoses caused by painkillers than in traffic accidents.
While 13 people have died in traffic accidents in 2015 and this year, the number of deadly overdoses during that same period is 17, including seven that originated in Kosciusko County and eventually died in Fort Wayne hospitals, Ciriello said.
Those were two of the more startling facts that surfaced during a day-long symposium Wednesday on prescription painkillers and heroin that was sponsored by Parkview Warsaw, The Bowen Center and Chautauqua-Wawasee and held at the Oakwood Resort event center in Syracuse.
More than 100 people attended the conference, which was highlighted by an address by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and a field of experts in hopes of understanding the depth of the crisis and developing a local plan to combat what is now considered a crisis across the United States.
Opioids are a type of painkiller that is highly addictive and often deadly.
The epidemic has been termed “The greatest mistake in modern medicine” that has developed over recent decades, said Zoeller, who is wrapping up his final year in office.
“We’re just about to see the crest of the big wave coming. We’ve seen it coming for a long time, so hopefully we’ve prepared at least in some part,” Zoeller said.
As communities have worked to reduce the supply of prescription, officials are now seeing a spike in the use of heroin as addicts look for cheaper, more assessable alternatives.
On top of that, heroin is now being laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more powerful than morphine and 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin and is responsible for an increasing number of overdose deaths, according to drugfree.org.
“When that starts to hit, the rates of overdoses are likely to climb even higher, which are now at catastrophic crisis amounts. So, unfortunately, we’re just seeing the height of the wave now,” Zoeller said.
Many who spoke at the conference said it will take a wide-ranging approach to stem the problem.
“We’ve got to gird ourselves for a sustained effort. This is not something that is going to be magically cured,” Zoeller said. “What we really need is a commitment and persistence from everybody in the community to do everything that is needed to address the scourage that plagues our children, our families and our communities.”
Zoeller said the state in recent years has worked to shut down “pill mills” and work with the medical community to change the way doctors approach prescribing opioids.
The state also has directed and used much of a $1.3 million from a national settlement against a global pharmaceutical company accused of deceptive drug promotions to purchase and distribute Naloxone, an opioid overdose medication, to police agencies across the state.
The use of Naloxone by police have saved an estimated 1,500 lives, he said.
“They’ve universally stepped up and served us beyond what their role is,” Zoeller said.
The state also created a task force on opioids and established bitterpill.in.gov, which provides various details related to prescription drug abuse.
Ciriello said most of the overdose deaths in Kosciusko County are believed to have been accidental. None of the deaths have been attributed strictly to heroin, but some of the victims have had both kinds of drugs in their systems, Ciriello said.
Numerous cases have included a mix of opioids and heroin. Two of the cases included signs of fentanyl, Ciriello said.
In the past decade, Kosciusko County had been considered a hotbed for methamphetamine use and ranked among the counties with the biggest problem in the state.
Ciriello says the problem with opioids is now on par with meth. He said it’s “neck-to-neck” which drug will kill more people.
In Allen County, which includes Fort Wayne, officials documented 418 overdose deaths from 2008 to 2015. From 2014 to 2015, they saw a 42 percent increase in the number of accidental overdose deaths, according to Deborah McMahan, the county’s health commissioner.
“These are people who are working. These are young people. These are people, like 45, 55. They didn’t want to die,” McMahan sid. “These people were working, had a life, went to school. They just took too much medicine.”
Nethaway said he believes police and the justice system need to change their approach in how they work with and treat drug addicts. That doesn’t mean police have to be soft on crime.
The recidivism rate for those types of offenders is very high, in part because the justice system is overflowing with people with drug problems.
“We can’t keep up the insanity of arresting people, putting them in the system and then letting them get out and not address the problem,” he said.
Another adjustment that’s needed is the stigma people associate with those addicted to painkillers.
Megan Fisher, an addictions specialist with Bowen Center, said stigma is the biggest barrier to a collaborative community response to opioid epidemic.
The stigma is reinforced stereotypes about drug users.
That outlook is even found among clinicians who provide drug abuse services, some of whom view patients as manipulative, irresponsible and poorly unmotivated.
The more stigma permeates society, the less clients are willing to seek treatment, she said.
“We want them to raise their hand ... and say, ‘I?have a problem and need help,’ but at the same time, we’re yelling messages at them that there is something wrong with them and that they are different from the normal population,” Fisher said.
Five years ago, Warsaw police detective RJ Nethaway said he would typically come across needles used for heroin about twice a year.
“Last week, we stopped a car with 42 needles in it,” Nethaway said.
And according to Kosciusko County Coroner Tony Ciriello, more people are dying from overdoses caused by painkillers than in traffic accidents.
While 13 people have died in traffic accidents in 2015 and this year, the number of deadly overdoses during that same period is 17, including seven that originated in Kosciusko County and eventually died in Fort Wayne hospitals, Ciriello said.
Those were two of the more startling facts that surfaced during a day-long symposium Wednesday on prescription painkillers and heroin that was sponsored by Parkview Warsaw, The Bowen Center and Chautauqua-Wawasee and held at the Oakwood Resort event center in Syracuse.
More than 100 people attended the conference, which was highlighted by an address by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and a field of experts in hopes of understanding the depth of the crisis and developing a local plan to combat what is now considered a crisis across the United States.
Opioids are a type of painkiller that is highly addictive and often deadly.
The epidemic has been termed “The greatest mistake in modern medicine” that has developed over recent decades, said Zoeller, who is wrapping up his final year in office.
“We’re just about to see the crest of the big wave coming. We’ve seen it coming for a long time, so hopefully we’ve prepared at least in some part,” Zoeller said.
As communities have worked to reduce the supply of prescription, officials are now seeing a spike in the use of heroin as addicts look for cheaper, more assessable alternatives.
On top of that, heroin is now being laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more powerful than morphine and 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin and is responsible for an increasing number of overdose deaths, according to drugfree.org.
“When that starts to hit, the rates of overdoses are likely to climb even higher, which are now at catastrophic crisis amounts. So, unfortunately, we’re just seeing the height of the wave now,” Zoeller said.
Many who spoke at the conference said it will take a wide-ranging approach to stem the problem.
“We’ve got to gird ourselves for a sustained effort. This is not something that is going to be magically cured,” Zoeller said. “What we really need is a commitment and persistence from everybody in the community to do everything that is needed to address the scourage that plagues our children, our families and our communities.”
Zoeller said the state in recent years has worked to shut down “pill mills” and work with the medical community to change the way doctors approach prescribing opioids.
The state also has directed and used much of a $1.3 million from a national settlement against a global pharmaceutical company accused of deceptive drug promotions to purchase and distribute Naloxone, an opioid overdose medication, to police agencies across the state.
The use of Naloxone by police have saved an estimated 1,500 lives, he said.
“They’ve universally stepped up and served us beyond what their role is,” Zoeller said.
The state also created a task force on opioids and established bitterpill.in.gov, which provides various details related to prescription drug abuse.
Ciriello said most of the overdose deaths in Kosciusko County are believed to have been accidental. None of the deaths have been attributed strictly to heroin, but some of the victims have had both kinds of drugs in their systems, Ciriello said.
Numerous cases have included a mix of opioids and heroin. Two of the cases included signs of fentanyl, Ciriello said.
In the past decade, Kosciusko County had been considered a hotbed for methamphetamine use and ranked among the counties with the biggest problem in the state.
Ciriello says the problem with opioids is now on par with meth. He said it’s “neck-to-neck” which drug will kill more people.
In Allen County, which includes Fort Wayne, officials documented 418 overdose deaths from 2008 to 2015. From 2014 to 2015, they saw a 42 percent increase in the number of accidental overdose deaths, according to Deborah McMahan, the county’s health commissioner.
“These are people who are working. These are young people. These are people, like 45, 55. They didn’t want to die,” McMahan sid. “These people were working, had a life, went to school. They just took too much medicine.”
Nethaway said he believes police and the justice system need to change their approach in how they work with and treat drug addicts. That doesn’t mean police have to be soft on crime.
The recidivism rate for those types of offenders is very high, in part because the justice system is overflowing with people with drug problems.
“We can’t keep up the insanity of arresting people, putting them in the system and then letting them get out and not address the problem,” he said.
Another adjustment that’s needed is the stigma people associate with those addicted to painkillers.
Megan Fisher, an addictions specialist with Bowen Center, said stigma is the biggest barrier to a collaborative community response to opioid epidemic.
The stigma is reinforced stereotypes about drug users.
That outlook is even found among clinicians who provide drug abuse services, some of whom view patients as manipulative, irresponsible and poorly unmotivated.
The more stigma permeates society, the less clients are willing to seek treatment, she said.
“We want them to raise their hand ... and say, ‘I?have a problem and need help,’ but at the same time, we’re yelling messages at them that there is something wrong with them and that they are different from the normal population,” Fisher said.
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