Dealing with local abuse of opiates

Abuse of opiates and the related use of heroin are not problems isolated to big cities or poverty stricken rural areas. They have spread everywhere in America, including our own communities.

Last week, York County law enforcement agents, drug treatment experts and concerned residents joined to acknowledge that and to resolve to do something about it. Representatives of Keystone Substance Abuse Services and York County All On Board announced a new initiative to educate the public, enlist law enforcement, service providers and the medical community to monitor signs of opiate abuse and to seek new ways to prevent this problem from getting worse.

The trend is scary. Drug overdose deaths have increased in York County from 28 in 2011 to 42 in 2015. Deaths related to opiates – usually prescribed drugs – increased from 20 in 2011 to 25 in 2015, and heroin-related deaths went from zero in 2011 to nine in 2015.

Between January and May of this year, the York County Coroner’s Office handled seven heroin-related deaths. And opiate-related admissions at Keystone have risen sharply.

The National Centers for Disease Control reports that heroin use has increased across the U.S. among men and women, most age groups and all income levels. And as heroin use has increased, so have heroin-related overdose deaths. Between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled, and more than 8,200 people died in 2013.

The local initiative announced last week, which still is in its early stages, hopes to approach the problem in different ways. Operation Medicine Drop, a program sponsored by law enforcement agencies in the county since 2009, is a proven success.

Agencies such as the York County Sheriff’s Office sponsor a public event where residents are invited to find unused and unneeded prescription drugs in their homes, and bring them to a specific “drop” where deputies will properly dispose of them. The idea is to ensure that the drugs aren’t misused, especially by young people in the home.

Residents, by the way, shouldn’t simply flush them down the toilet, where trace amounts of the drugs could eventually end up in our drinking water.

The CDC notes that the strongest risk factor for heroin addiction is addiction to prescription opioid painkillers, and unused prescription drugs in the home are a major source of opiates for teens. Proper disposal is the best way to prevent them from being used for recreational purposes. Those involved in the local effort also plan to talk with physicians about reducing the number of pain pills they prescribe.

In some instances, people with legitimate ailments become addicted to opiates during routine treatment for pain. Then, tragically, when prescription drugs are unavailable, they turn to heroin, which often is both cheaper than pills and easier to obtain.

At this point, abuse of prescription opiates and heroin in York County falls short of an epidemic. But efforts such as this local initiative are necessary to help keep the numbers down.

We applaud those involved in this effort and hope they receive the full support of the community in stemming this destructive problem.

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Dealing with local abuse of opiates."