poledriver
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Heroin use becomes bigger problem on Eastern Shore
A rising U.S. trend of death from heroin use has hit close to home on the Eastern Shore over the past few years, according to statistics from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
"This is a nationwide phenomenon. This isn't just a local thing that we're seeing here," said Gary Peace, director of the Talbot Partnership for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention.
"Once you're hooked on opiates or hooked on heroin, you're not the same person. You just go to incredible lengths to get it and to satisfy your urge."
According to numbers from MDHMH, in 2012, the state posted a 41-percent increase in heroin overdose deaths, from 145 between January and July in 2011 to 205 in the same time period of 2012.
Meanwhile, overdose deaths from prescription drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone dropped from 208 to 177 over the same time period.
On the Eastern Shore, heroin overdose deaths rose from 10 deaths during the first seven months of 2011 to 18 deaths in the same time period in 2012.
In Talbot County, the number of overdose cases reporting heroin as the primary substance doubled from 5 percent in 2011 to 10 percent in 2012.
While Pearce said he's not exactly sure what is causing the rise in heroin overdose deaths, prescription painkillers play a role.
Heroin is an opiate and similar to some prescription painkillers, like oxycodone and Vicodin. In the past five years or so, Peace said, there was a dramatic rise in the number of prescriptions that physicians were issuing,
so much that state physicians and officials eventually became aware of the problem and passed legislation to track prescriptions across the state.
"It's become much more difficult to get prescription medication. As a result, the street price of prescription medications have gone up dramatically," Pearce said.
"It's harder to get, prices are up what's the next alternative? The next alternative is heroin."
Because of the more widespread use of prescription drugs, Pearce said, more people are familiar with the effects of opioid medications, which, in turn, makes heroin seem less scary and not as exotic.
Also, he said heroin is often much less expensive than prescription drugs, usually costing less than a six-pack of beer, compared to anywhere from $40 to $75 for a single pill of Oxycontin or Vicodin to achieve the same high.
Sgt. Prendi Garcia, who has been in drug enforcement for eight years and is currently the regional commander for Upper Shore drug task forces, said heroin only accounted for about 20 percent of arrests made in Talbot County in 2012.
Marijuana accounted more than 50 percent of arrests made in the county, cocaine accounted for 20 percent and other drugs accounted for about 10 percent, Garcia said.
"Why people are talking a lot about heroin is because you're not seeing overdoses with marijuana," Garcia said.
"I think where it's obviously an issue is when someone has an overdose and it's heroin that's attributed to that overdose, and I think that's what people should be alarmed about."
Garcia said heroin use in the county isn't a recent development, either.
"Heroin has always been here, and it's like any drug it comes and goes in waves," he said.
One of the things Pearce said Talbot Partnership struggles with is the youth attitude toward drugs and alcohol.
"Unfortunately, with social media and movies and TV, there's just this glorification that goes on in terms of drugs," Pearce said.
"As a result, attitudes of kids, and in many cases their parents ... they don't have the same concerns, the same fears that people may have had in years past."
Pearce said the people dying from heroin overdoses are not the typical visions of junkies lying in gutters, but can be who people think of as good kids in the community.
Garcia said heroin has a wide spectrum of users, including both men and women from kids in their late-teens to 50-year-olds.
Also, he said it's not hard to overdose on heroin.
"It could be the first time or it could be the hundredth time. It could be a first-time user that the body is not prepared to take the drug ...
or that habitual user that has reach a level where they're comfortable at and then they use more than what they're used to using," Garcia said.
Garcia said the problem police are having is officers are not privileged as law enforcement to get overdose data from hospitals due to laws that protect citizens.
But he said the area has seen several heroin overdoses in Caroline and Talbot counties, including one overdose within the past month in Caroline County, though that one did not end in death.
While it might not be possible to be stop heroin use in the area altogether, Pearce said it certainly can be slowed through education, and that is one of Garcia's main goals.
"My goal is to educate the community in the dangers of the drug and how to identify the drug if they see it at their house or with a relative or some friend or something,
so they don't either get themselves in trouble or get themselves in a predicament to get themselves addicted to some drug," Garcia said.
Garcia said he is interested in educating anybody in the community, from young to old, about all drugs,
not just heroin, and all people have to do if they're interested is either send a letter to the Maryland State Police Easton Barracks at 7053 Ocean Gateway, Easton, MD, 21601 or call the barracks at 410-819-4747.
http://www.cecildaily.com/news/state_news/article_41ac1d54-bb6f-11e2-994f-001a4bcf887a.html
A rising U.S. trend of death from heroin use has hit close to home on the Eastern Shore over the past few years, according to statistics from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
"This is a nationwide phenomenon. This isn't just a local thing that we're seeing here," said Gary Peace, director of the Talbot Partnership for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention.
"Once you're hooked on opiates or hooked on heroin, you're not the same person. You just go to incredible lengths to get it and to satisfy your urge."
According to numbers from MDHMH, in 2012, the state posted a 41-percent increase in heroin overdose deaths, from 145 between January and July in 2011 to 205 in the same time period of 2012.
Meanwhile, overdose deaths from prescription drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone dropped from 208 to 177 over the same time period.
On the Eastern Shore, heroin overdose deaths rose from 10 deaths during the first seven months of 2011 to 18 deaths in the same time period in 2012.
In Talbot County, the number of overdose cases reporting heroin as the primary substance doubled from 5 percent in 2011 to 10 percent in 2012.
While Pearce said he's not exactly sure what is causing the rise in heroin overdose deaths, prescription painkillers play a role.
Heroin is an opiate and similar to some prescription painkillers, like oxycodone and Vicodin. In the past five years or so, Peace said, there was a dramatic rise in the number of prescriptions that physicians were issuing,
so much that state physicians and officials eventually became aware of the problem and passed legislation to track prescriptions across the state.
"It's become much more difficult to get prescription medication. As a result, the street price of prescription medications have gone up dramatically," Pearce said.
"It's harder to get, prices are up what's the next alternative? The next alternative is heroin."
Because of the more widespread use of prescription drugs, Pearce said, more people are familiar with the effects of opioid medications, which, in turn, makes heroin seem less scary and not as exotic.
Also, he said heroin is often much less expensive than prescription drugs, usually costing less than a six-pack of beer, compared to anywhere from $40 to $75 for a single pill of Oxycontin or Vicodin to achieve the same high.
Sgt. Prendi Garcia, who has been in drug enforcement for eight years and is currently the regional commander for Upper Shore drug task forces, said heroin only accounted for about 20 percent of arrests made in Talbot County in 2012.
Marijuana accounted more than 50 percent of arrests made in the county, cocaine accounted for 20 percent and other drugs accounted for about 10 percent, Garcia said.
"Why people are talking a lot about heroin is because you're not seeing overdoses with marijuana," Garcia said.
"I think where it's obviously an issue is when someone has an overdose and it's heroin that's attributed to that overdose, and I think that's what people should be alarmed about."
Garcia said heroin use in the county isn't a recent development, either.
"Heroin has always been here, and it's like any drug it comes and goes in waves," he said.
One of the things Pearce said Talbot Partnership struggles with is the youth attitude toward drugs and alcohol.
"Unfortunately, with social media and movies and TV, there's just this glorification that goes on in terms of drugs," Pearce said.
"As a result, attitudes of kids, and in many cases their parents ... they don't have the same concerns, the same fears that people may have had in years past."
Pearce said the people dying from heroin overdoses are not the typical visions of junkies lying in gutters, but can be who people think of as good kids in the community.
Garcia said heroin has a wide spectrum of users, including both men and women from kids in their late-teens to 50-year-olds.
Also, he said it's not hard to overdose on heroin.
"It could be the first time or it could be the hundredth time. It could be a first-time user that the body is not prepared to take the drug ...
or that habitual user that has reach a level where they're comfortable at and then they use more than what they're used to using," Garcia said.
Garcia said the problem police are having is officers are not privileged as law enforcement to get overdose data from hospitals due to laws that protect citizens.
But he said the area has seen several heroin overdoses in Caroline and Talbot counties, including one overdose within the past month in Caroline County, though that one did not end in death.
While it might not be possible to be stop heroin use in the area altogether, Pearce said it certainly can be slowed through education, and that is one of Garcia's main goals.
"My goal is to educate the community in the dangers of the drug and how to identify the drug if they see it at their house or with a relative or some friend or something,
so they don't either get themselves in trouble or get themselves in a predicament to get themselves addicted to some drug," Garcia said.
Garcia said he is interested in educating anybody in the community, from young to old, about all drugs,
not just heroin, and all people have to do if they're interested is either send a letter to the Maryland State Police Easton Barracks at 7053 Ocean Gateway, Easton, MD, 21601 or call the barracks at 410-819-4747.
http://www.cecildaily.com/news/state_news/article_41ac1d54-bb6f-11e2-994f-001a4bcf887a.html
