Pubdate: Sat, 13 Aug 2016
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2016 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Authors: Rick Hoehn and Lisa Bertucci, Towson

END THE STIGMA

Parents of a young man who died of substance abuse urge others to 
talk about addiction before they, too, face tragedy

Thank you to Amy Waldron for her letter ("Bringing addiction out of 
the shadows," July 28) regarding the death of our son, Alex Hoehn, 
from substance abuse.

Amy's comments were both accurate and poignant, "Addiction is killing 
our young people at unprecedented rates. ... By bringing addiction 
out of the shadows and showing the faces of the people we are losing 
to this disease, we can continue to move forward toward breaking the 
stigma of addiction." Her response touched our hearts and we felt 
compelled to further share our story and the brutal effects of this 
horrific drug epidemic.

Families dealing with recovery travel a very long road with lots of 
twists and turns, starts and stops, accompanied by milestone 
achievements. Unfortunately for those addicted, it's a lifelong 
journey to stay clean.

These kids often start out taking prescription pain pills for 
recreation until they become addicted.

They then move on to heroin, which is much easier to obtain on the 
streets at a fraction of the cost. Thus, a lifelong battle.

The medical examiner who conducted our son's autopsy confirmed that 
Alex did not only die of an accidental heroin overdose, there was 
also fentanyl in his blood system.

Fentanyl is a laboratory-derived pharmaceutical painkiller that is 
30-to-50 times stronger than natural poppy-derived heroin.

Dealers are lacing heroin with fentanyl to create a stronger high and 
increase profits; basically we consider it equivalent to murder.

Our son's death from opiate addiction is increasingly becoming a 
common experience for young adults.

After Alex's five-year battle with drugs that included six 
residential rehabs, we've been exposed to the full brunt of this 
prolifically spreading drug epidemic. Quality lives are being lost 
every day. Our son was a good kid with a huge heart and a promising 
life ahead of him. Opiates are unmercifully addictive and they kept 
luring him back. We long recognized the possibility of Alex 
overdosing from his drug use. We even took opiate overdose response 
training classes to better prepare us as first responders should we 
be the ones to discover him. However, in Alex's case, it was too 
late. With fentanyl, it kills so quickly he basically had no chance.

Nothing can ever prepare you for, or take away the pain of, losing a child.

Last month, The Baltimore Sun published an article that stated, "In 
Maryland, fentanyl-related deaths now account for nearly a quarter of 
drug overdose deaths, up from 4 percent two years ago. The percentage 
now eclipses deaths related to cocaine and alcohol, and is gaining on 
prescription drugs.

Baltimore has been hit particularly hard. The 39 deaths in the city 
linked to fentanyl in the first quarter of the year are nearly three 
times the 14 recorded in the same time last year. They account for 
more than half of the 73 fentanyl-related deaths in Maryland during 
the first three months of the year" ("Deaths from fentanyl-laced 
heroin surge," July 6).

Heroin and fentanyl, when used for non-medical reasons, are 
demonizing and addictive killers.

We, as Alex's parents, would love to know that our open sharing of 
his stolen life due to opiate addiction might potentially save at 
least one other precious life. We are not concerned about any stigma.

In fact, that is the purpose of our sharing.

If people continue to hold back from sharing life's truths, then we 
have gained nothing and addiction will continue to remain in the 
shadows where it does not belong.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom