I've been hearing about a rise in heroin use and death across the country, can you tell me how this has impacted our community?
Drug overdoses have hit record numbers. The majority of these are due to opioids, things like street drugs like heroin but also prescription painkillers as well. Since 1999, there have been 500,000 deaths from these drugs. In St. Charles County, deaths due to heroin have doubled in the past seven years. In 2008, we had 26 deaths. In 2015, we had 53 deaths due to heroin. When we look at incidents (9-1-1 calls) involving heroin, it has increased dramatically from 191 in 2008 to 381 incidents in 2015. Just this year alone, we’ve had 398 incidents, so we’ve already passed last year’s mark.
What does a heroin overdose look like and is there treatment for it?
When someone’s overdosed on heroin, they will look like they’re in a very deep sleep. Their pupils get very small. Thankfully, there is an antidote for emergency treatment called Narcan, which reverses these effects. It’s given as an injection, as an IV, or even through the nose. Throughout St. Charles County, we’ve been working hard to get this in the hands of as many emergency providers as possible. Obviously, SCCAD (St. Charles County Ambulance District) has it, but also many of the law enforcement departments in St. Charles County, as well as many fire protection districts.
At the same time that we are hearing about heroin overdoses, I've also heard about a possible connection with prescription narcotic use, can you tell me more about that?
It’s complex, but they’re definitely connected. More than 200 million narcotic prescriptions are written every year in the United States. In the last 10 years, use of medications like Hydrocodone has more than doubled. Oxycodone use has increased by nearly 500%.
Back in the 1990’s, doctors were being told by accrediting bodies that they weren’t treating pain adequately. Not surprisingly, pharmaceutical companies starting promoting opiate drugs that were previously prescribed at a much lower frequency. One of the companies pleaded guilty in 2007 to downplaying the risk of addiction and had to pay out more than $600 million.
So once someone gets addicted to these prescription drugs, what do they do when they can’t get them anymore, whether their physician realizes there’s a problem and won’t prescribe them or they can’t afford it or they lose their health insurance? They go to a cheaper, more easily accessible drug, like heroin. 4 out of 5 heroin users report that their opioid use began with prescription drugs.
What are signs and symptoms of someone who is abusing the medications and what safety measures can I take for myself and my family?
The first thing to do to help prevent is to realize the great risk behind these drugs. When we hear about heroin, of course, we realize the great danger involved, but when we hear about prescription painkillers, we don’t necessarily get as fearful about these. Certainly, there are patients that need painkillers, but if they aren’t needed, don’t take them, don’t ask for them. If you have them at home, don’t leave them in your medicine cabinets, get rid of them. Many children have overdosed on these, as well.
Are there drugs that are more commonly abused than others?
Yes, Hydrocodone, Oxycodone – those are the generic things. Some are in combination with Tylenol – things like Vicodin and Percocet. But also there are anxiety medications that are opioid painkillers but they are equally as addictive like Xanax and Ativan.
Are there things being done in the community to help fight this danger?
There are a lot of things. Personally, I’ve been involved in a collaborative effort among our hospitals in St. Charles County. Also, one of the medics at SCCAD, Lisa Cassidy, has spearheaded a community campaign in our county. You may have seen the “Stop Heroin” t-shirts that their wearing to raise awareness in our community. There’s also an organization called “CRUSH” which stands for Community Resources United to Stop Heroin. They’ve done some great things – I believe they have an annual teen drug summit which reaches 350 middle school students.
Other things listeners can do to get the word out about the dangers of prescription drugs is to write your local representatives to help get a prescription drug monitoring program. The reason why St. Charles County is following what St. Louis County has done is because our state does not have a prescription drug monitoring program. We’re the only state in the whole country who doesn’t have one. Right now if a patient comes in, the physician has no idea that the patient may have had multiple prescriptions from multiple providers. It’s important to get a monitoring program in our county and in our state.
The other thing is to have a great primary care physician who recognizes the importance of good health. BJC has great primary care physicians – if you are looking for one, call 636.928.WELL.