The heroin crisis is so bad in one US county that there were 16 overdoses in one day

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/med...there-were-16-overdoses-in-one-day/ar-BBm5MkV

Washington county is nestled on the southwest edge of Pennsylvania, bordering West Virginia. It has a population that just surpasses the 200,000 mark, and yet every day between five and eight of its inhabitants overdose on heroin.

Last weekend, the county experienced one of its worse overdose epidemics. In just 24 hours, 16 people overdosed. Over the whole weekend, 25 overdosed and three died, the Washington Post reports.

Every day in the US, an average of 110 people die from legal and illegal drug overdoses, according to the Post. Many of the Washington county people who overdosed were saved by the fact that all paramedics now carry a fast-acting antidote called naloxone.

Rick Gluth, a supervising detective on a Washington county drug task force, told the Washington Post that there had been a gradual increase in the number of overdoses over the last two years and that things "just went out of control."

" I’ve been a police officer for 27 years and worked narcotics for the last 15, and this is the worst. I’d be glad to have the crack epidemic back," Gluth said.

The number of heroin addicts in the US has sharply risen over the last decade, and with it the number of fatal heroin overdoses has gone up, too. Heroin use has doubled among young adults in the past 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In some parts of the US, the problem has gotten so bad that maternity wards have now started installing special units to wean newborns off drugs due to the increasing number of mothers taking drugs while pregnant.

When injected, heroin turns into morphine, which causes the body to become extremely relaxed and decreases the sense of pain. One of the reasons people die from a heroine overdose is that their body forgets to breathe.

"Heroin makes someone calm and a little bit sleepy, but if you take too much then you can fall asleep, and when you are asleep your respiratory drive shuts down," Dr. Karen Drexler, director of the addiction psychiatry residency training program, told CNN. Heroin overdoses also cause heart failures and extreme blood pressure drops.

The demographic of heroin users has been changing over the last decade. Since many heroin users become hooked after being prescribed painkillers known as opioids, a lot of middle-class people are now addicted. As a result, the drug is bought and sold in accessible places like bars, nightclubs, and homes.

Gluth told the Washington Post that in Washington county, heroin is much cheaper than prescription drugs. Prescription drugs can cost $20 for a single dose, while heroin sells for $8 for a stamp bag.

 

[szuko000]

Narcan kits with training should be a public service. I mean hand that shit out on street corners and teach people the easy methods to save a friends life. Put good Samaritan laws in place so police completely loose the right to even write down the names of the people who called in the OD and offer more services for people who want to get clean. Stop saying its an epidemic and its the "worst yet" do something to stop it, this is 2015 we shouldnt be loosing loved ones in the streets out of fear and a lack of knowledge.

" I’ve been a police officer for 27 years and worked narcotics for the last 15, and this is the worst. I’d be glad to have the crack epidemic back," Gluth said.

And why is this? Because you felt a disconnect from the people who were suffering? I am not saying its because of racism or anything but that is a very insensitive thing to say.

 

[SixBuckets]

Australian states and territories are (rightfully) spending millions of dollars in awareness and prevention campaigns against traffic accident related deaths, but there's no awareness of the fact that overdoses kill more people in Australia than cars.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Only issue with naloxone, despite it being a really cheap drug to make, is that there is pretty much a monopoly on its distribution as there is only one company making it now. But it should be completely legal, OTC and inexpensive concerning how much it saves in human suffering, life, and medical/social/economic externalities.

I just can't stand the epidemic language...

 

[sigmond]

Rick Gluth, a supervising detective on a Washington county drug task force, told the Washington Post that there had been a gradual increase in the number of overdoses over the last two years and that things "just went out of control."

" I’ve been a police officer for 27 years and worked narcotics for the last 15, and this is the worst. I’d be glad to have the crack epidemic back," Gluth said.

The good ol' days of that splendid crack epidemic...