In Their Own Words: High School Class Of 2000 Alums Talk About What It Was Like To Be At Heart Of Opioid Epidemic
As the class of 2000 headed toward graduation, an opioid epidemic was cropping up and spreading like wildfire. Nearly two decades later, the students who were there at the beginning of the epidemic recount just how much it has affected their lives. In other news on the crisis: safe injections of heroin, how a counterterroism machine helps fight overdoses, the end of the era of pill mills, and more.
The New York Times:
The Class Of 2000 ‘Could Have Been Anything.’ Until Opioids Hit.
The Minford High School Class of 2000, in rural Minford, Ohio, began its freshman year as a typical class. It had its jocks and its cheerleaders, its slackers and its overachievers. But by the time the group entered its final year, its members said, painkillers were nearly ubiquitous, found in classrooms, school bathrooms and at weekend parties. Over the next decade, Scioto County, which includes Minford, would become ground zero in the state’s fight against opioids. It would lead Ohio with its rates of fatal drug overdoses, drug-related incarcerations and babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. (Levin, 12/2)
The New York Times:
Where The Nurse Prescribes Heroin
Homeless drug users in Scotland will be allowed to inject pharmaceutical-grade heroin twice a day under the supervision of medical officials as part of a new program intended to reduce drug deaths and H.I.V. infection. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, a $1.5 million facility in Glasgow that opened on Tuesday will allow a handful of drug users to receive doses of the drug alongside other treatment for their physical and psychological health, according to Glasgow City Council. (Schaverien and McCann, 11/27)
NPR:
To Prevent Fentanyl Overdoses, Some Cities Try High-Tech Drug Testing
Sarah Mackin runs a cotton swab around the inside of a tiny plastic baggie that appears to be empty. She spreads whatever residue the swab picked up onto a test strip that resembles a Band-Aid, then slides the strip into a buzzing machine about the size of a boxed, take-home pie. Then she waits, hoping for information that she can share with Boston's community of opioid users. (Bebinger, 11/27)
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Inside Louisiana's Opioid Crisis, Human Connection Is Key To Recovery
But in Louisiana and other states with large rural populations where opioids have hit hard, one of the biggest hurdles has been providing long-term treatment programs that tackle the isolation and loneliness that are one of the root causes of addiction. The sober-living residence where [Kim] Christian, [Christie] Silvis and their roommates live is part of a network run by Oxford House, a national nonprofit that has founded dozens of such homes in Louisiana. Addiction researchers and service providers say that these types of homes are an important stepping stone between treatment and independence, and have prompted some recovering addicts from rural areas to seek out cities like New Orleans as places where they can get clean. (Woodruff, 11/28)
The Star Tribune:
Minneapolis Sees Spike In Overdoses, With Opioids Causing Most Deaths
With just over a month left in the year, Minneapolis has recorded more than 1,300 drug overdoses — a sobering milestone that’s the highest in at least a dozen years. The 1,360 count through Nov. 18 easily surpassed the 954 overdoses reported in all of 2018 and left city and public health officials scrambling to respond to the opioid crisis. The data dating back to 2007 only captures cases in which police, firefighters or paramedics respond to a reported overdose, fatal or otherwise, and not those instances in which victims are revived by someone at the scene or get to the hospital on their own. (Jany, 11/24)
The Baltimore Sun:
As Opioid Epidemic Claims Parents, Cecil County Program Aids Orphaned Children
The focus on trauma has filtered throughout Cecil County’s emergency and social services. [Ray] Lynn combs through police reports and emergency calls to find every child affected by their parent’s drug use to make sure they’re connected with counselors or mental health professionals. Those kids might have watched paramedics revive an overdosed relative. He and others help the staff at after-school programs understand that a child’s meltdown might have more to do with what happened at home. (Davis, 12/2)
Cleveland Plain Dealer:
The End Of An Era: Pill Mills Are Gone At Ohio’s Opioid Epicenter, But Crisis Continues
Her sentencing marks the end of a deadly era: For more than 15 years, rogue doctors preyed on patients in the southern Ohio county. Many people drove for hours to pay cash for prescriptions. Some sold the pills on the streets; countless others became addicted. Dozens died. (Caniglia, 12/1)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Death Toll From Drug Overdoses Passes 10,000
More than 10,000 people have died across the Bay Area in the drug overdose epidemic, but the main killer hasn’t been prescription painkillers for several years — methamphetamine is now the biggest cause of deaths, and overdoses on the superpotent opioid fentanyl are spiking. Nationally, hundreds of thousands of people have died in the opioid overdose crisis, using prescription painkillers and similar street drugs like heroin and fentanyl. (Allday and Fagan, 12/1)
Columbus Dispatch:
Report: Overdose Deaths Cause Fall In Life Expectancy For Middle-Aged Ohioans
The mortality rate of middle-aged Ohioans has increased more than it has in 47 other states and a new study shows the ongoing opioid epidemic might be partially to blame. From 2010 to 2017, Ohio’s mortality rate for people ages 25 to 64 increased by 21.6%, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, conducted by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Eastern Virginia Medical School, examined data on life expectancy in the United States for more than a half-century and found that mortality rates accelerated just as the nation’s opioid crisis set in. (Filby, 11/27)
New Hampshire Union Leader:
Sununu Terminates Granite Pathways Contract In Wake Of Teen Overdoses
The decision to terminate the contract that allows Granite Pathways to operate the adolescent drug treatment center at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester was met by approval from both local and state officials. Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Patricia Reed, the state director for Granite Pathways, both agreed with Gov. Chris Sununu's decision to terminate the contract in the wake of teen drug use and overdoses at the state's sole youth treatment center for adolescents. (Landrigan and Hayward, 11/27)
Concord Monitor:
Concord Hospital’s ‘Cuddlers’ Care For Babies Born Exposed To Drugs
As a volunteer “cuddler,” [Judy] Buckley’s job is to soothe some of Concord Hospital’s smallest, most vulnerable patients. The retired teacher spends hours holding and comforting babies, most of whom have neonatal abstinence syndrome, meaning they were born exposed to drugs in the womb. Babies with NAS are essentially born in withdrawal – they suffer tremors, rashes, sleep deprivation and seizures, among other symptoms. Many of the symptoms mimic normal newborn behaviors: babies are fussy at times, they want to eat or be held. The difference is, with NAS babies, those symptoms don’t stop even after needs are met. These babies need to be held for hours at times before they are able to rest. (Willingham, 11/30)
