Heroin: ‘If this were ebola, the CDC would be here with helicopters’

SHARON — The meeting room at Sharon Town Hall was packed on Saturday, Oct. 31, for the second  community forum on drug use sponsored by the newly formed United Coalition of Northwest Connecticut.

Coalition founder Brian Ohler welcomed the audience and the panel: Trooper First Class Roy Dungan from the Connecticut State Police; Garrett Deutermann from Charlotte Hungerford Hospital; Lori Puff, Pamela George and Rebecca Rosen from Sharon Hospital; Glenn Ryan from the McCall Foundation; and Cynthia Flint from High Watch Recovery Center.

Ohler began by reciting statistics that have become too familiar to Northwest Corner residents this year: 

• The state medical examiner’s office has recorded 317 accidental intoxication deaths in the first six months of 2015, and projects a total of 634 for the year. 

• Sixteen of those overdose deaths were here in Litchfield County.

• Although not all overdose deaths are from heroin or other opiate drugs, cheap, high-quality heroin is widely available in Connecticut, including the Northwest Corner. 

“If these numbers aren’t staggering then I don’t know what to say,” Ohler said. “If this were ebola or some mainstream disease the CDC would be in here with helicopters.”

Ohler then introduced the panelists, who took turns speaking and then answering questions.

Drugs lead to crime

Dungan explained the State Police perspective to a sometimes skeptical and frustrated audience.

He said drug use and drug dealing go hand in hand with other crimes — burglary, larceny, assault. 

But the State Police are stretched thin — there is one trooper patrolling all of Sharon, Goshen and Cornwall, for example.

He urged residents to “open your peripheral vision” and look for the out of the ordinary in their neighborhoods — strange cars making frequent visits, or a lone person walking around and knocking on doors to see if anyone is home.

He also stressed the importance of locking up when out of the house.

“How many people here left their doors unlocked when they came to this meeting?” he asked, eliciting chuckles.

Police actions

Dungan acknowledged the frustration of residents who are aware of drug activity in their towns, but do not see arrests.

He said the State Police “have to put together an in-depth case — it has to be solid, which takes time.

“We can’t go in gangbusters and say ‘We’re here for you because Sally told us about you.’”

Dungan said there have been recent arrests on drug charges and more are coming.

“Once we’re on to something we will not stop.”

An audience member wanted specific locations where heroin is sold.

Dungan said the drug trade “is all over” and the dealers do not stay in one place for long.

Someone else asked why repeat offenders are let out after short sentences.

“If I could answer that, it would be great,” Dungan said. “Unfortunately the courts have a large caseload.”

He urged people to ask their state representatives the same question, and to urge that dealers be required to serve their full sentence. 

Someone asked if addicts commit other crimes. 

“Yes,” Dungan said, explaining that active addicts are usually unable to hold a steady job, and are in the position of having to steal in order to obtain drugs, not to get high, but to avoid withdrawal.

“These are people of opportunity,” he said. “They look for a weak link.”

A call for action

Pastor Margaret Laemmel (aka Pastor Peg) of the Sharon and Lakeville Methodist churches said from the audience that in her discussions with parishioners and the community at large she hears considerable anger and frustration over the perception that law enforcement agencies are more interested in arresting drug suppliers higher in the hierarchy (“big fish”) than street or retail dealers (“small fish”).

“People are getting angry,” she said. “People are dying.”

She said that unless the authorities are seen to be doing something about the situation, community members might take matters into their own hands.

Others said they had been told directly, by law enforcement officers, that the focus was on “big fish.”

“I don’t believe in ‘small fish,’” said Dungan. If he sees illegal behavior, he makes an arrest.

Laemmel tried again, saying, “A lot of us know who the dealers are.”

“If we make an arrest without probable cause and a search warrant, it will get tossed,” replied Dungan, acknowledging that it’s hard to watch repeat offenders walk out of jail. “It’s frustrating for both the public and law enforcement.”

Ohler took over after about 40 minutes of this, acknowledging the emotions of the audience.Saying that, “We can’t arrest our way out of this problem,” he moved on to the other panelists in search of solutions.

Painkillers are the gateway

Rebecca Rosen, a registered nurse and program director of the Senior Behavioral Health Program at Sharon Hospital, described one pathway to heroin addiction. She sketched out a scenario in which a parent sustains an injury and is given a prescription for an opioid analgesic — a painkiller — and takes two of the 20 pills.

The remaining pills stay in the medicine cabinet at home, until the teenage child spots them, and takes one.

“You’re now on the path to heroin addiction.”

The teenager goes through the prescription and looks to buy more, Rosen continued, only to discover a) that prescription opioids cost upwards of $80 per pill on the street and that b) heroin, which is the same basic drug and has the same effect, is available for as little as $5 a bag (a bag being a single dose).

“My message to my children is: Once you do it, you’re addicted. There is no turning back. You need treatment.”

Pamela George, director of emergency services at Sharon Hospital, said heroin use is not confined to the lower reaches of the socio-economic scale.

“If there’s one thing that’s evident today it is that it doesn’t discriminate.”

She said she has a family member who has struggled with heroin addiction for 10 years.

George noted that, “We’re good at talking to our kids about smoking,” and wondered why the same approach isn’t used for drug use.

At the hospital end of the equation, George said that pain medications other than opioids are being used more often.

She also addressed Narcan — the trade name for naloxone hydrochloride, a drug that, under certain circumstances, can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Police officers and ambulance squads are increasingly trained in the use of Narcan.

Jordan welcomed this development, saying it is preferable to administer Narcan in the field than to wait until the patient gets to the emergency room, when it is often too late.

Seeking comfort and relief

Cynthia Flint, the outreach coordinator from Kent’s High Watch Recovery Center, said her facility helps addicts not only with their addiction but with co-occurring disorders that often accompany drug use.

“People are self-medicating for a reason,” she said.

“What is blowing my mind is this opiate epidemic in the last five years,” said Glenn Ryan, director of special services from the McCall Foundation in Torrington.

“It’s a microcosm of what’s going on in the nation.”

He said part of the problem is a belief that the best answer to physical or mental discomfort is an opioid drug.

“The heroin epidemic is really an opiate epidemic. There’s probably opiates in your medicine cabinet right now.”

“Help is out there,” he added — but navigating through the complex system of treatment options is tricky.

From ER right to rehab

Garrett Deutermann is a community case worker at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington. Part of his job is to meet with addicts at their lowest ebb — when their drug use has brought them to the emergency room.

“I meet with them and get an estimate of their readiness to change,” he said.

Sometimes this means a client will go immediately into treatment.

And sometimes Deutermann gets a call months later.

He also helps families prepare for the moment when their addicted member is ready for help — “so there’s no mad scramble.”

“These moments are fleeting,” he said.

During the question-and-answer period, Laemmel asked if doctors are looking for alternatives to opiates.

Deutermann said “the pendulum is swinging between palliative care and ‘here’s an opioid for your wisdom tooth.’”

Deutermann said there have been positive developments, such as prescription monitoring programs that make it difficult for addicts to “doctor shop” or otherwise obtain fraudulent prescriptions.

“I say this cautiously — opiates have been around since before Christ.”

Laemmel said she was concerned that addicts might think they can use heroin safely, because of the availability of Narcan.

Deutermann said that part of his job is to increase the availability of Narcan, and that the training is simple and quick. “I can teach you in 10 minutes.”

However, the drug has limited uses. “If you’re not breathing, it won’t help.”

And even when it is successfully administered, the patient must be brought to the hospital within 30-45 minutes.

As far as addicts believing Narcan will serve as a fail-safe, Deutermann said that idea gives the addicted person too much credit for logical thinking.

“When someone’s addicted, they are using their limbic system — fight or flight.”

Ginger Katz, founder of the Courage to Speak Foundation and an anti-drug activist whose 20-year-old son died of a heroin overdose in 1996, gave presentations to middle school students in both Sharon and Salisbury on Friday, Oct. 30. Look for coverage in The Lakeville Journal issue of Nov. 12.