Pubdate: Sun, 08 Feb 2015
Source: Daily Local, The (PA)
Copyright: 2015 Daily Local News - a Journal Register Property
Contact:  http://www.dailylocal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4704
Author: Michael N. Price

RISING TOLL OF DEATH

At least 52 people in Chester County died from drug use last year, and
police are responding

The war on drugs may be best known for the law enforcement's fight
against the illegal drug trade, but these days another battle is
waging against the rising death toll caused by fatal overdoses.

Local law enforcement officials continue to raise the alarm about the
constant loss of life that has struck communities across the country,
including Chester County. Last year at least 52 people died in an
accidental manner caused by drug use, according to statistics from the
Chester County Coroner's Office.

While heroin continues to claim lives at an alarming rate, officials
said prescription drugs now cause more deaths than all illegal street
drugs combined. Even more telling, drug overdoses have eclipsed
automobile accidents as the number one cause of injury death in the
United States, according to the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).

Though a steady demand for both legal and illegal drugs certainly
drives the market, an ever-increasing supply of prescription
medication is starting to receive its own share of the blame.

Doctors continue to prescribe Oxycodone, a leading culprit in fatal
drug overdoses, at an unprecedented rate. In 1998, 11.5 tons of the
drug were prescribed worldwide. In 2010, that figure had risen to
122.5 tons, with the United States representing 82 percent of global
consumption.

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, who serves as chair of the
intelligence committee for the regional High Intensity Drug Area
Trafficking task force (HIDTA), said the availability of potentially
deadly prescription drugs in nearly every American home has led to a
drastic rise in addiction rates among young people.

"From my perspective, they are over-prescribing prescription drugs,
particularly hydrocodone and oxycodone," Hogan said.

With about 70 percent of the American population on prescription
drugs, supply more than meets demand. Opioids like Oxycodone account
for the majority of prescription drug deaths and are the third most
commonly prescribed drug type in the country behind antibiotics and
antidepressants.

The deadly problem is not just a local one; 46 people die in the
United States every day from overdoses on prescription painkillers
alone, according to the CDC. In 2012, Americans filled 259 million
prescriptions for painkillers, enough for every adult in the country
to have their own bottle of pills.

"Across the country and the Commonwealth, we have seen a sharp rise in
prescriptions for opioids like Oxycodone in the past decade," Hogan
said. "At the same time, we have seen a spike in addiction and
overdoses related to these drugs. Although most doctors are
prescribing such drugs appropriately, there are a certain number of
doctors who are over-prescribing this class of medication."

That problem is exacerbated by the Philadelphia region's significance
in the heroin trafficking trade, law enforcement officials said.
According to information from HIDTA, a task force comprised of local,
state, and federal law enforcement agencies, heroin continues to rank
as the top drug threat for southeastern Pennsylvania. Prescription
drugs ranked second, followed by cocaine, crackcocaine, and marijuana.

Addiction to prescription opioids goes hand in hand with the rising
rates in heroin use, officials say. While many users develop an
addiction by taking prescription pills found in the home, once the
supply runs out the need for a fix remains.

With Oxycodone demanding $20 to $30 a pill on the street, many users
are forced to turn to heroin, which provides a similar high at a
fraction of the cost, to feed the habit. Law enforcement officials say
the Philadelphia region is home to some of the purest and cheapest
heroin in the country, a problem made even worse when Mexican drug
cartels recently discovered the process to refine "pure white heroin"
that finds its way to southeastern Pennsylvania suburbs.

"The Philadelphia region has some of the purest and cheapest heroin in
the United States," Hogan said. "Now you have a whole lot more kids
addicted, and you have a whole lot more heroin on the street."

In response to the rising death toll, law enforcement and elected
officials have taken an aggressive approach through a number of public
programs, including eleven prescription drug collection boxes that
were placed at police stations and public buildings across Chester
County in late 2013.

Last year, those boxes collected more than half a ton, 1,026 pounds,
of unwanted prescription medication. The program, a cooperative effort
supported by law enforcement and elected officials like State Rep.
Becky Corbin, R-155th of East Brandywine, was deemed a major success
and could expand to include additional boxes.

While collection boxes attempt to safely dispose of medication before
it can reach the hands of potential abusers, Pennsylvania's municipal
law enforcement officers recently gained a tool designed to save lives
when it matters most.

Last year, state lawmakers passed legislation that authorized police
officers and firefighters to carry and administer Naloxone, or Narcan,
an opioid antagonist designed to immediately revive an unresponsive
person who is experiencing a potentially fatal drug overdose.

The program has already produced results, as the East Brandywine
Police Department recently recorded the county's first "save" when
police officers used the drug to revive an unresponsive patient
earlier this month.

On Jan. 23 township police officers administered the drug after
responding to the heroin overdose of a 23-year-old woman, who regained
consciousness three minutes later and was admitted to an area hospital
in stable condition.

Corbin, who supported the Naloxone legislation, praised the police
officers' actions and the legislation that authorized them to do so.

"We gave public safety officials a new tool to battle against heroin
addiction, and they wasted no time using this new resource to save
lives," Corbin said. "I applaud the courageous work of the East
Brandywine Township Police and its rapid response to a reported heroin
overdose. Its rapid response and quick thinking kept a young woman
from becoming yet another statistic in the deadly heroin epidemic."

The East Brandywine officers, like the majority of municipal police
officers in Chester County, just received the training that authorized
them to administer the drug in the past few weeks. About 20 Tredyffrin
police officers also participated in a training class earlier this
month.

At the beginning of the training, Tredyffrin Police Superintendent
Anthony Giaimo said the department typically responds to about 18 to
20 overdoses a year, and three or four of those turn out to be fatal.

Tredyffrin became the 25th police department in Chester County to
receive the training, administered by West Chester's Good Fellowship
Ambulance Company training institute. Five more police departments are
scheduled to receive the training, and officials hope the few police
departments in the county that have not signed on to receive the
training do so soon.

"We've pushed this program through a number of different agencies, and
we've finally got it here," Giaimo said to his officers at the start
of the training, which consisted of an instructional video and a
practical demonstration from Ethan Trowley, who manages Good
Fellowship's training program.

The training emphasized how widespread addiction has become,
explaining that prescription drug overdoses now outweigh those caused
by illegal drugs. Overall, opioid overdose deaths have tripled since
the 1990s, the state-sponsored video said.

Police were trained on the warning signs of an opioid overdose, like
sedation and respiratory depression, and instructed on how to
administer a life-saving dose of Naloxone, a lastchance measure in the
fight against addiction.

"The best way to prevent heroin or prescription painkiller overdoses
is to help addicted persons enter recovery or, better yet, keep people
from becoming addicted in the first place," Corbin said.

"That said, more departments should follow East Brandywine's lead in
getting the proper training and stocking the drug naloxone so that
other lives can be saved."

Individuals needing help in overcoming addiction may call the Chester
County Department of Health's Drug and Alcohol Services hotline
between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at
1-866-286-3767.

All calls are confidential. Prescription drug drop box locations can
be identified by visiting www.RepCorbin.com and clicking "Prescription
Drug Abuse."
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