Drug-Overdose Fatalities A Result Of Fear

fruitfly

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They said they were his friends, but he didn't know that fear was their master and a merciless one; it demanded his life and they gave it willingly. When he collapsed on the floor, struggling for breath after accidentally overdosing on heroin, they decided a call to 911 was too much to risk - the possibility of arrest for possession held greater dread than his imminent death. They hid the drugs in the backyard and fled, abandoning their friend to die alone.

When Andrew Plumb's body was discovered ten years ago, police wanted to investigate his death as a homicide, but his father knew better.

"My son was a heroin addict," Salt Lake resident Jack Plumb said. "His death was not a homicide. He died of a drug overdose."

In the last several months, overdoses of heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl have claimed over 400 lives across the country, and Utah is not exempt from the problem. In 2004, approximately 190 Utahns shared Plumb's death, and in 1999, drug overdose was the leading cause of death for Salt Lake County males ages 15-44, according to the Harm Reduction project, a drug addict help center in Salt Lake.

When 18-year-old Amelia Sorich's friends dumped her body in a Bountiful field after she overdosed last summer, Utah residents caught a glimpse of a growing problem in their midst, and there are those who are demanding justice for those who watch their friends die without helping.

According to Plumb, drugs have been a problem in Salt Lake City for years but it takes events like this to wake people up.

It's hard not to cringe when statistics such as those gathered by a 1996 San Francisco General Hospital Study found that 94 percent of those with initial pulses who receive emergency medical services after an opiate overdose survive. With 71 percent of injectors having witnessed at least one overdose, chances are that many of these deaths could have been easily preventable.

Frustrated law enforcement officers finally contacted House Representative Carol Moss, D-Holladay, and solicited her help to sponsor a bill that they hoped would provide strong motivation for witnesses to an overdose to call 911.

Moss, haunted by the similar death of one of her former students, embraced the initiative and subsequently drafted House Bill 391, making it a class B misdemeanor to not report a drug overdose to authorities.

"We have nothing that we can charge these people with, and yet they just callously disregard someone's stress because they're worried about the charge of possession," Moss said.

Opposition killed the bill in February and dumped it on the shoulders of an interim study committee for further research. The disparate voices are coming from a few surprising sources, Jack Plumb being one of the loudest.

"I'm a parent that lost a child, and in society's world that's not supposed to happen," he said. "As parents we have to look at the reality of our children's choices."

Plumb said he thinks the state should focus on helping the youth in making right choices instead of punishing them for the natural result of inexperience and immaturity. As he sees it, the people who left his son did so because they were afraid of reprisal.

"This is not a judicial issue," he said. "It's a medical emergency. My son was left on the floor to die because they were afraid. This bill, in my opinion, would just make them more afraid."

The State Division of Substance Abuse, state prosecutors and numerous substance abuse help centers opposed the bill as well, one they believe would have given even more cause of fear to those already determined to avoid jail at the cost of their friends' lives.

"There are many parents who have lost children because no call to 911 was made, and that resulted from fearing police," said Luciano Colonna, executive director of the Harm Reduction Project in Salt Lake. "To add another sanction to that would just exacerbate the situation. We're using law as a fallback strategy because we're failing in all these other areas."

The Harm Reduction Project decided to focus its efforts on what it calls the "making it safe to call 911" campaign. Theirs mirrors efforts of organizations around the country trying to collaborate with law enforcement in order to prevent arrests of those calling 911.

Naloxone, an antidote designed to slow the effects of a heroin overdose, is now being distributed at some needle exchange programs through prescriptions from physicians. But this is no miracle drug - in most cases the antidote will just buy time; time needed for emergency personnel to arrive.

And as more time passes, the more lives heroin will claim unless steps are taken to deal with the problem, according to Moss.

"You have responsibility toward someone who's in distress," she said. "You shouldn't have to die for making a bad choice."
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Drug-Overdose Fatalities A Result Of Fear
By Katie Laird, Daily Universe (Brigham Young U)
August 9, 2006


Link
 
i dont get how they KNOW a drug can save someone completely from a heroin overdose making heroin pretty safe yet they decide to have nothing to do with it because it can be seen as "condoning drug abuse"

politicians are idiots, 'nuff said
 
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In the last several months, overdoses of heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl have claimed over 400 lives across the country...

Plumb said he thinks the state should focus on helping the youth in making right choices instead of punishing them for the natural result of inexperience and immaturity...

And as more time passes, the more lives heroin will claim unless steps are taken to deal with the problem, according to Moss.

"You have responsibility toward someone who's in distress," she said. "You shouldn't have to die for making a bad choice."

Because allowing pharmaceutical grade heroin for sale to adults and educating youth about harm reduction totally wouldn't prevent any deaths.
It just amazes me how people have associated the war on drugs so deeply with youth and protecting the children, yet fail to see that drug dealers don't check ID and are often minors themselves.
 
And yet, strangely enough, if the shit were decriminalized and allowed by grown adults to be picked up in pharmacies in its unadulterated form, where ID's would be thoroughly checked, there wouldn't even be a black market in which the heroin is cut with fentanyl in the first place.

Seems so utterly logical to me... decriminalize and regulate it, and there would be nor more fentanyl-laced heroin, which means less death (yes, it does).

And then, of course, no one will have to worry about being arrested when they call for medical services when someone is OD'ing, because it won't be a crime anymore. Duh!
 
...but the Government don't care about saving lives, do they? :(
 
I kind of disagree with this article. By choosing to use IV drugs you're saying that life isn't a high priority of yours, and you gotta take responsibility for that decision.

That means realizing that your new friends are gonna care more about their stash's safety than your life, just like you care more about your bags than your friends lives.

And the whole last quote is really fucking retarded, "you shouldn't have to die for making a bad choice" Seriously, wtf. Should cars be made out of ballons and butterflies so drunk drivers can't harm themselves? Should we have a welfare state in case people decide not to get jobs? Call me crazy but I firmly believe that decisions should have consequences.
 
Leaglise, Control, and allow people to call for help when needed = Ultimate Harm Reduction for drugs.

Common Sense ? Yes

Public Policy ? No

:(
 
Intoxo

I totally agree. I don't think that there are enough people out there that take responsibility for their own actions, ie: "I'm a drug addict so I can't work and be a functioning and contributing member of society" or my ABSOLUTE favorite "It's McDonald's fault that it am fat" These people made the decision to take herion, no one forced a needle into their arm. I don't think making the drugs illegal does anything but make drug dealers rich.

I dont think that the government will EVER learn that prohibition DOES NOT WORK!!!!! Rather than spending so much time and energy criminalizing people they should put a greater focus on positive education, rather than all of these anti drug commerials that pretty much tell you that you are horrible for doing any kind of drug.
 
purplefirefly said:
I dont think that the government will EVER learn that prohibition DOES NOT WORK!!!!! Rather than spending so much time and energy criminalizing people they should put a greater focus on positive education, rather than all of these anti drug commerials that pretty much tell you that you are horrible for doing any kind of drug.


I totally agree with you, but you have to take the realistic view on it. The government keeps spending excessive amounts of time and effort into criminalizing drugs because it creates jobs, shit for people to do. More jobs = more economic spending. All in all, everything is about money, and the government will always think and legislate with that at top priority.
 
Intoxo said:
I kind of disagree with this article. By choosing to use IV drugs you're saying that life isn't a high priority of yours, and you gotta take responsibility for that decision.

That means realizing that your new friends are gonna care more about their stash's safety than your life, just like you care more about your bags than your friends lives.

And the whole last quote is really fucking retarded, "you shouldn't have to die for making a bad choice" Seriously, wtf. Should cars be made out of ballons and butterflies so drunk drivers can't harm themselves? Should we have a welfare state in case people decide not to get jobs? Call me crazy but I firmly believe that decisions should have consequences.

i also agree. these ppl piss me off. its your decision to do heroin, and you can od. you should kno that.unfortunately, some times bad decisions do cause lives.
 
im actually happy to see a parent who went through such a traumatic experience, yet thought logically and didnt back the retarded policy that the gov't idiots want to legislate, and most likely even attach his sons name as part of the name for the new law...

the lawmakers IMO are very fucked up in how they take advantage of family who suffer such loss and are looking for answers, and then use their tragedy and time of weakness to gain support for their illogical bullshit legislations and war on drugs.

im sure the politicians behind the bill thought he would be a shoe in to use as a mouthpiece to shill their stupid laws to the public. im sure they were greatly dissapointed to find out he is a rational man that didnt decide to pass the blame of his sons OD on everyone else but his son, and saw how the law being passed simply encourages and reinforces the behavior that cost his sons life.

if any law was to be passed to prevent something like this from happening again, doing the opposite and giving the person/persons who called emergency services for someone who OD's should be given some sort of leniency or immunity to any serious conviction, maybe legislate giving someone no worse than a misdemeanor or certain level of charge if they report an OD situation.
 
to the government recreational drug use is the DEVIL!


and the devil has no place in society now does it kids?


and i had to quote this
Crazeee said:
Leaglise, Control, and allow people to call for help when needed = Ultimate Harm Reduction for drugs.

Common Sense ? Yes

Public Policy ? No

:(

well said man
 
I kind of disagree with this article. By choosing to use IV drugs you're saying that life isn't a high priority of yours, and you gotta take responsibility for that decision.

I think that's besides the point though. Yeah we make bad decisions, but we shouldn't be punished when we're trying to make a good one to save someone's life. It doesn't matter how they endangered their life, no one should be punished for trying to help.
 
One of the things being done in my community to help prevent this is the distribution of Narcan and a class on how to use it at the local needle exchange.

They provide a vial of Narcan, a 4cc IM Syringe, and teach you how to use it in the case of an overdose.
 
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If they stopped arresting people that called 911 in the first place less people would die, that and if they gave away Narcan too, but that would be "condoning drug use".
 
nothingsacred said:
I totally agree with you, but you have to take the realistic view on it. The government keeps spending excessive amounts of time and effort into criminalizing drugs because it creates jobs, shit for people to do. More jobs = more economic spending. All in all, everything is about money, and the government will always think and legislate with that at top priority.

I know what you mean. The sad part is that there will be a lot more people that die. It's a shame that the government has more regard for money than human life.

I think that no one should be criminalized for the mistake of others. If someone od's and you were there I don't think you should be searched and then charged with pocession. But there is always that "Eye for an eye" attitude. If somene dies or get hurts SOMEBODY is going to have to pay. So once again...displacement of responsiblity.
 
There may be a lot of jobs out there due to the criminalization of drugs, but you've also got to consider all the jobs that would be created in response to legalization. Think about it, many more people would be required to help cultivate, harvest, package and distribute these drugs if they were legal along with all the other employment opportunities that would arise from running any sort of business. (human resources, payroll and accounting departments, management etc.)
Not to mention the global benefits to be had if all that opium being grown in the middle east now had legit uses. As well as all the funds that could be collected from taxing these substances, coupled with the billions of dollars saved when we arn't fighting a war on drugs.
The only excuse for the public is their ignorance, and that is down right pathetic.
 
Well, maybe the reason no one calls 911 is that the friends and dealer stand a good chance of getting charged with the "murder" of someone who overdosed due to choices they made for themself...

No one cares about the junkie when he's alive, but once he overdoses our cazy government and the cowboys that enforce its laws love to come down on the junkie's friends, supposedly in the interest of "justice" for the junkie....

It would be funny if it weren't so hypocritical, sad, and pathetic...
 
when i began to read the article and saw that they were going to try to encourage friends to call 911 if a friend overdoses, i assumed that they would then pass a law or whatever that would promise no search of the premise, etc....NOT that they would make not reporting it a crime....way to 'encourage' people to 'care' about their friends8( 8(

so they would be choosing between their saving their friend's life but most likely getting charged with possession or running away and potentially but not necessarily getting charged with a misdemeanor? uuuugh
 
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