Last updated : December 16, 2024
Despite decades of education about the dangers of narcotics like heroin, use in Cleveland, Ohio is continuing to skyrocket, resulting in a death toll of epidemic proportions. The drug is cheap, easily accessible and deadly.
The number of heroin deaths in 2012 is a four-fold increase over 2007 statistics. This year it is on track to end more lives in the Cuyahoga County than homicide. In the first half of 2013, nearly twice as many people have died from a heroin overdose as have been murdered in the same time frame.
“It’s killing people at an extraordinary high rate,” said Bill Denihan, CEO of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County. “This used to be considered the inner city story. It’s not anymore. It’s everybody’s story.”
Because of the potency and unusually lethal nature of the heroin, overdose victims often die long before being transported to a hospital and EMS personnel have previously been ill-equipped to treat this particular situation. But in Elyria, police and firefighters in are taking part in a new pilot program run by the state, equipping and training them to administer Narcan, a drug to reverse the deadly effects of heroin.
“It’s a very small kit. It has two vials in it. If they come into an area where someone is unconscious they would take the kit out, put a little spray adaptor on the syringe and spray it into their nose,” said Lorain County Coroner Dr. Steven Evans.
Even if used on someone who hasn’t experienced a heroin overdose or even someone who hasn’t ingested any heroin cannot cause serious harm. In fact, according to Dr. Evans, there are no real side effects.
Evans says that Lorain County was chosen for the pilot program because of its stunning increase in heroin-related deaths over recent years. He added that this program is designed to help battle the heroin epidemic, but it won’t solve it alone.
“This is just to save their life. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s much more that needs to be done after that,” he said.
