Town hall looks at problem’s scope
Though the U.S. contains only 5 percent of the world’s population, it consumes about 80 percent of the world’s opioid products.
This is one of several statistics that Bald Eagle Project’s executive director Steve Shope said tends to shock his audiences. It’s also one of the reasons for the nation’s growing opioid epidemic.
Shope and other Bald Eagle Project members hosted a town hall style meeting, titled “Heroin in Loyalsock,” at the Loyalsock Township High School Thursday evening to educate the community on the deadly epidemic striking Lycoming County. Berry Denk, of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania; Katie Hugo, of Crossroads Counseling; Dr. Todd Fausnaught, of CleanSlate; state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township; and Shope took audience members’ questions following a presentation on the history, growth and effects of heroin and other opioids.
When humanity discovered the pain-relieving effects of the poppy plant, people developed morphine and, thus, morphine addiction. Scientists genetically altered morphine and created heroin, which was meant to be a non-addictive alternative to its predecessor, and was capable of soothing such illnesses as tuberculosis and pneumonia.
It was popular throughout the 1800s before becoming illegal in 1920, Shope said.
“So why is it we now have an epidemic?” he asked.
Because the opioid receptors, found in a person’s brain, spinal cord and stomach, cannot differentiate between natural opioids, such as those created with the poppy plant, or synthetic ones that now are legally prescribed, such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin and others.
Four out of five addicts started with a legal prescription, Shope said. Once opioid receptors are introduced to those drugs, they go into overdrive. And getting off of them can be incredibly painful, even deadly, he added.
“This rotating door of prison, then back on the streets, is not helping at all,” Shope said. “And this is why.”
Between 1990 and 2011, overdoses increased by over 500 percent. In 2003, the number of deaths by overdose surpassed the number of deaths by automobile accidents, Shope said. Now, the number of overdose deaths nearly double each year.
“Nothing short of a comprehensive response is going to do,” Shope said.
Shope reminded attendees that every Pennsylvania resident has a standing prescription for Narcan, or Naloxone, and the panelists encouraged everyone to pick it up — even if they might not know anyone who is dealing with an addiction.
Fausnaught told the audience that he recently picked up the prescriptions for each member of his household after being told that a friend’s daughter had found someone overdosed in a public bathroom.
When asked about the cost, Fausnaught said that he was able to get each prescription for about $50 with his insurance, though they cost nearly double without. For the Evzio — an injector for Naloxone similar to that of a diabetic’s insulin injector — it would regularly cost $3,800, but his insurance covered it entirely.
A key point throughout the evening was how difficult it is to know who might struggle with addiction.
“They’re just like you and I,” Fausnaught said.
“This is not a poor-people problem. This is not an inner-city problem,” Yaw said. “This addiction crosses all socio-economic statuses. We need to tell people, ‘This is a disease. It’s not a shortcoming.’ “
Hugo, a certified recovery specialist, addressed drug courts, stating there are mandatory treatments and meetings, and they allow people to become a productive member of society again.
“We can’t incarcerate this problem,” she said. “People aren’t being treated in jail.”
Superintendent Gerald McLaughlin ended the evening by reminding the audience that the Loyalsock Township School District has lost former students to this epidemic over the past year.
“To think we don’t have a problem, we’re only fooling ourselves,” he said.
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