Ohio’s opiate problem has many dimensions, and solving it will require many components: law enforcement, courts, treatment options, education, community services, support networks, and more.
Consensus around that theme is emerging from a series of community forums the Attorney General is conducting around the state on the heroin epidemic. Attorney General Mike DeWine has hosted heroin-related forums so far in Portsmouth, Toledo, Akron, Mansfield, and Zanesville. Five more are planned.
“We have to take a holistic approach,” the Attorney General said, speaking to about 80 people attending the first meeting in Portsmouth. “We have to have law enforcement. We have to have more treatment. We have to have better education. The most important thing of all is having communities recognize it as a problem.”
Evidence of the opiate epidemic — involving prescription pain medications, heroin, and increasingly, addicts’ progression from the former to the latter — abounds.
Ohio’s heroin-related deaths jumped from 315 to 725 from 2010 to 2012, according to data the Attorney General’s Office has collected from county coroners. With many toxicology reports still outstanding and 76 of 88 counties reporting, the number for 2013 stands at 614 and could rise significantly as more data becomes available. Scioto County also tracks deaths indirectly related to heroin, such as suicides and shootings. If its findings hold true across the state, Ohio’s heroin-related death toll is twice that high.
Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission task forces seized nearly 33 pounds of heroin with an estimated street value of nearly $1.5 million in 2013.
Opiates make up an increasing share of the evidence law enforcement agencies submit to BCI’s Chemistry Unit to test, jumping from about 33 percent of all cases in 2009 to about 41 percent last year. And within the opiate category, prescription pain medications are declining in frequency and heroin is increasing. In 2013, heroin represented about 66 percent of all opiate submissions, up from about 44 percent five years earlier. Overall, the Chemistry Unit’s heroin cases jumped from 1,936 in 2009 to 4,908 last year.
Here are the main takeaways from the first few forums:
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Addiction takes a huge toll on communities in the form of lost lives, devastated children and families, increased crime, crowded court dockets and prisons, and diverted resources.
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All facets of a community must be engaged in addressing the opiate epidemic, and communications must be strong within areas and across the state.
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Recovery from opiate addiction is possible, although it is a long, uphill battle and relapse is common because of the drugs’ strong pull. Significant efforts need to be made to remove the stigma and shame associated with addiction.
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While treatment services remain limited in Ohio, medication-assisted treatment programs are showing great promise when combined with other tactics.
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Communities support the availability of Naloxone, which can reverse an opiate overdose. The Ohio Department of Health is piloting Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone) at three sites in Cuyahoga and Scioto counties. Lorain County provided first responders with the medication under a pilot that began in October. Of the 17 people treated as late November, 15 are confirmed to have been saved.
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Overprescribing of pain medications remains a problem, necessitating legislative action, education, and expanded use of the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System by doctors. Prevention and education should begin when children are very young and continue regularly.