More than 900 British Columbians died of illicit drug overdoses last year. That's 80 per cent more than 2015, and the highest total ever recorded in our province. Nor is there an end in sight. Drug deaths climbed throughout 2016, reaching 142 in the month of December alone. If that trend continues, we could conceivably see 1,700 fatalities or more this year. Those are disastrous numbers. The main effort to curtail fentanyl deaths has focused on the antidote naloxone. Kits are being handed out to users, their families and first-response teams across the province. [continues 518 words]
The overdose crisis, especially in British Columbia, has become an issue of moral panic, and everyone is paying attention. The B.C. Coroner's Report for 2016 revealed a shocking number of deaths from overdose - 914, which far surpassed previous records and is nearly three times the number of deaths from automobile collisions. This crisis impacts us all and it requires a radical shift in the ways all provinces provide health care. Unfortunately, the human and financial toll continues to rise because we continue to view illicit substance use as a moral and criminal issue rather than the healthcare issue it is. As a health-care social worker on the front line, I am lending my voice to those with substance-use disorders, the ostracized and overlooked. [continues 555 words]
Vancouver's Hedy Fry differs from the prime minister on where the national dialogue on fentanyl should go In 1999, Dr. Hedy Fry flew to Switzerland to learn about how the European country had responded to a surge in drug-overdose deaths. "I travelled around with the police," the Liberal MP for Vancouver Centre recounted in a telephone interview. If they found someone addicted to drugs who was injecting on the street, Fry continued, the police would stop and offer to take the individual to a clinic where there were a doctor and nurses. [continues 921 words]
Prescribing medicinal heroin to prevent overdose deaths might appear to clash with common sense, but the provincial health officer in B.C. is backing the idea because he says European-style drug treatment programs work. The arrival of the powerful opioid fentanyl drove B.C.'s death toll to a new peak last year of 914 overdose deaths, almost 80 per cent higher than the 510 deaths recorded by the provincial coroner in 2015. Dr. Perry Kendall said he wants support from colleagues in health care and law enforcement to push the province to create treatment programs that prescribe a pharmaceutical-grade version of heroin, called diacetylmorphine. "It may be counterintuitive for people, but they have been shown to improve functioning, improve physical health, improve mental health," said Kendall. "They certainly get people out of illegal drug markets and many of those people have gone on to have relatively stable lives." [continues 312 words]
Governor Hogan announces heroin crisis initiatives Governor Larry Hogan announces a number of new initiatives to combat the statewide heroin crisis at a press conference at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. (Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette) Governor Larry Hogan announces a number of new initiatives to combat the statewide heroin crisis at a press conference at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. (Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette) Gov. Larry Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford came to Anne Arundel Medical Center Tuesday to announce new initiatives aimed at combating a rising tide of heroin abuse across the state. [continues 444 words]
One woman relied on old needles used by her friend's diabetic husband. Another settled for whatever syringes she could find. But for the first time since they started using drugs several years ago, both women have access to fresh syringes. They are getting them through a needle exchange in Frankfort. "If you can have a new one every time, why wouldn't you?" asked the younger of the two women, who both spoke to the CJ on condition of anonymity for fear of being stigmatized or getting fired. "I think it's awesome that they're doing this. [continues 1730 words]
[Name redacted] of Denville, was charged by Wayne police with possession of heroin.(Photo: Courtesy of Wayne Police) [Name redacted], 26, of Denville was arrested and charged with possession of 39 bags of heroin, among other charges, on Jan. 4. According to police records, Officer Tomasz Cydzik observed a 2000 Honda Civic parked in the CVS parking lot on Hamburg Turnpike with her head down "as if unconscious" around 9:40 p.m. When the officer approached, [name redacted] opened her eyes and police observed an uncapped syringe inside the vehicle, according to police reports. After further investigation, five Suboxone under-the-tongue films, one Clonazepam pill, a sandwich-sized plastic bag containing suspected marijuana, two additional hypodermic needles, multiple open glassine bags of suspected heroin, 39 additional bags of heroin stamped "suicide squad" and one small zip lock bag containing suspected cocaine, police records show. [continues 59 words]
At four in the morning, the hospital's emergency department lights fluoresce directly into your brain. Everyone, everything looks green, especially the midnight heroin users. They are always shivering. Partly the withdrawal, partly the cold, damp Connecticut weather. They tend not to have proper jackets. On a stretcher in the hallway, a 25-year-old "opioid withdrawal" is curled up with three hospital blankets pulled over his head. I gently shake his leg, but nothing is really gentle here. I introduce myself and whisper a question about what brought him in. No response. [continues 693 words]
Over a 12-hour period in Beverly Hills, two sisters and a boyfriend of one of the them were rushed to the hospital after accidentally overdosing on heroin. Police say all three are lucky to be alive. "The boy was the luckiest," said Detective Sgt. Lee Davis of the Beverly Hills Public Safety Department. "Two of our detectives went to his house about the two prior overdoses and they found him totally unresponsive and all alone. If they didn't show up, this probably would have been a totally different story." [continues 495 words]
The reformulation of the powerful painkiller OxyContin in 2010 is the chief driver of the explosion in heroin overdose deaths in subsequent years, according to a new working paper from researchers at the RAND Corp. and the Wharton School. OxyContin, released by Purdue Pharma in 1996, is a powerful extended-release opioid designed to provide 12-hour relief to patients suffering from severe pain. The original formulation was particularly prone to abuse, as drug users found that they could crush the pills and chew, snort or inject them in order to deliver 12 hours of powerful painkiller dosage all at once. [continues 869 words]
The man responsible for more than two dozen heroin overdoses -- which all occurred in one day in a state deemed the ground zero for the opioid epidemic -- faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Bruce Lamar Griggs, 22, pleaded guilty on Monday to distribution of heroin, about six months after 26 people overdosed in Huntington, a city in the southwest corner of West Virginia. The 911 calls came within hours of one another, the majority of which concerned overdoses in and around one apartment complex. [continues 388 words]
A part-time Donora police officer has been arrested for stealing 133 stamp bags of heroin that were seized as evidence after the execution of a search warrant. James B. Johnson V, 29, of Monongahela, was charged Tuesday with several drug offenses, theft, obstruction, tampering and misapplication of entrusted property. The charges were announced today by the Washington County district attorney's office. Authorities accused Officer Johnson of stealing the evidence following an Aug. 10 seizure. Police said Officer Johnson admitted to the theft and said he took the heroin "for his personal consumption." [continues 250 words]
Six months ago, AJ Solomon visited Gov. Chris Christie at the State House to apologize for using heroin while a member of the governor's advance team. [photo] Governor Chris Christie told the story of AJ Solomon, a recovering heroin addict, to illustrate his focus on combating drug addiction in New Jersey. Here, the Governor hugs Solomon as he exits after the address.(Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey.com) Six months ago, AJ Solomon visited Gov. Chris Christie at the State House to apologize for what he felt was the ultimate betrayal -- using heroin while a member of the governor's advance team in 2012 and 2013. [continues 629 words]
New Jersey will receive a $1.3 million grant to target the heroin trade and illegal prescription drug activity as law enforcement and legislators team up to lower rates of addiction and overdoses, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. announced Thursday. [photo] A grant from the U.S. Justice Department would target the heroin trade and misuse of prescription drugs.(Photo: RECORD FILE PHOTO) New Jersey will receive a $1.3 million grant to target the heroin trade and illegal prescription drug activity as law enforcement and legislators team up to lower rates of addiction and overdoses, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. announced Thursday. [continues 248 words]
One is a former nurse. Another used to be in law enforcement. There were a recruiter and a graphic designer. Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal and Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino at the press conference on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016. They were among 40 people arrested this week in an investigation led by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office to combat the area's "staggering" heroin epidemic. This time, after arresting the alleged users for drug possession, detectives offered them help -- the chance to enter a five-day detox program run by Bergen County Regional Medical Center. Twelve people accepted. [continues 1881 words]
[photo] (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer) William McMonigle and Amy Zaccario of Havertown, who both lost their fathers to heroin overdoses in Philadelphia, are now planning the funeral of their best friend, Sean Jimenez, who died of a heroin overdose in Kensington on Monday. At home in Jenkintown, Sean Jimenez had a decent job, a woman who loved him, and two young sons who bore a striking resemblance to Dennis the Menace, just as he did when he was little. Gallery: But Monday night on a Kensington sidewalk, Jimenez had nothing but the clothes on his back, a few dollars in his pocket, a cellphone, and a drug addiction that apparently took his life. He was pronounced dead there at 11:10 p.m. [continues 785 words]
'It's A Mess.' Nicholasville experienced a surge in heroin overdoses Monday and Tuesday, said Aaron Stamper, chief of Jessamine County Emergency Services. "It's a mess right now," Stamper said shortly before 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. "We've had five overdoses in the last eight hours, and I think in the last 24 hours, we've had nine overdoses." There was one suspected drug overdose death Saturday, but the overdoses that happened Monday and Tuesday did not result in death, said Jessamine County Coroner Mike Hughes. [continues 180 words]
Mt. Juliet Police conducted a search warrant Tuesday afternoon as part of a heroin and methamphetamine investigation that closed Old Lebanon Dirt Road near Nighthawk Lane. The search warrant included explosions that police described as "flashbangs," which were deployed as distractions because of information the individuals inside may have been armed, Mt. Juliet Police Lt. Tyler Chandler said. "So, using distraction methods, helps minimize risk for the Special Response Team members making entry," Chandler said. Old Lebanon Dirt Road between Nighthawk Lane and Eagle Trace Drive was closed for a period of time before being reopened. The Tennessean will provide additional information as details become available. [end]
The deadly toll of heroin, deemed a public health crisis by many officials in Wisconsin, isn't slowing down. Heroin-related deaths in Milwaukee County skyrocketed by 72% last year compared with 2013, according to data released Wednesday by the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office. In 2014, 119 people died from heroin-related overdoses, and for the second year in a row in Milwaukee County, heroin-related deaths outpaced motor vehicle deaths, of which 74 occurred. Heroin-related deaths also account for nearly half the 249 drug-related deaths investigated by the medical examiner's office. Several drug-related deaths from 2014 remain under investigation, but heroin has been ruled out as a contributing factor. [continues 813 words]
Federal and local authorities announced on Wednesday that Milwaukee has been chosen to take part in a new $2 million comprehensive strategy led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to prevent opioid misuse, heroin abuse and violent crime. The "360 Degree Strategy" will strengthen partnerships among health care professionals, social service organizations and government service agencies to provide long-term help and support to create drug-free communities, said Dennis A. Wichern, special agent in charge at the DEA's Chicago Field Division. [continues 287 words]
