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Core Topics => In the Media => Topic started by: clinton on November 08, 2015, 05:44:56 AM
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http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Examining-Virginias-Heroin-Epidemic-339582582.html?device=phone&c=y
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (NEWSPLEX) -- For the first time ever, more Virginians are dying from heroin and pain killer overdoses than in highway crashes. Now lawmakers, police, doctors, even addicts themselves are calling heroin use in Virginia an epidemic.
In 2014, 728 Virginians died from a heroin or opioid overdoses. Brandi Fincham was almost 729.
Fincham says she started using opiates in high school. In May of 2014, she used heroin for only the second time in her life, and she overdosed.
"I was 82 days clean at the time and I snorted it and was completely no pulse, not breathing, ash gray, was found on a couch dead," Fincham said.
Twenty-six-year-old Stas Novitsky has a similar story.
"My friends had started doing heroin and they were like 'hey try this heroin,''' said Novitsky. "They shot me up and I loved it."
He overdosed the day before his 25th birthday. Novitsky says his mother found him blue and unconscious. Today, Novitsky says most of those friends have either died or overdosed.
Both Fincham and Novitsky say they used drugs before turning to heroin, and they are not alone.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than nine in ten people who used heroin also used at least one other drug. More and more frequently, that drug is coming from a doctor.
"We see a lot of people who may not think of it as a drug addiction because it is prescribed by a doctor and serves a purpose," said Brian Suchocki,
He is the lead clinician at Charlottesville's Morh Center, a residential treatment center for men.
"With prescription pain medication becoming very powerful, and more accessible to these people, especially children and a younger age, they see pills as not as dangerous," said Suchocki. "You're doing pills then why not do heroin?"
According to the CDC, 45 percent of people who used heroin were also addicted to prescription opioid painkillers. Pain management specialist Dr. Rasheed Siddiqui says he takes extra care to alert his patients to the risks of pain pills.
"Folks who become abuse or become dependent on prescription pain pills are almost 40 times more likely to be using heroin," said Siddiqui.
He says some patients come into his office requesting specific amounts of pain killers OxyCodone and OxyContin.
"That sets off one of the first red flags. They know exactly what they want and they will talk about the dosages and the prescription drugs," Siddiqui said. "They'll say, 'no Doc, that's the only thing that works.'"
Siddiqui is transitioning away from pills, offering more alternative treatment for pain like physical therapy and injections. However, as pills become harder to get, there's a new side effect.
"We have seen some of our property crimes, like break-ins to homes, to feed an addiction to pain killers. As those became less and less available, those folks have moved on to find a cheaper alternative," said Lieutenant Todd Hopwood from the Albemarle County Police Department.
According to Hopwood, heroin is cheaper and easier to get than some prescription pills. In 2014, he says ACPD doubled the amount of heroin it seized from dealers.
"Sometimes people think that you can just try something. Try it once, and you can promise yourself 'ok you can just snort the heroin' or 'we're just gonna pop pain pills.' As they continue to try and find that high that they got the first time, the addiction gets worse and worse," Hopwood said.
As more people turn from pills to heroin, the typical user has changed. Suchocki says it's no longer just members of fringe society abusing the drug, because he says veterans, women, and teens are using more frequently.
"For young adults, adolescents, the idea of using heroin is no longer seen as a negative thing as it once was. So people are more susceptible to exposure and use," said Suchocki
Novitsky was his high school sophomore class president and captain of the soccer team.
"Addiciton doesn't discriminate," Hopwood said.
Fincham and Novitsky are now trying to be part of the solution. They have been working with the McShin Foundation helping other addicts find a path to recovery.
"You have very little time when an addict says they want to get help and they want to get clean. You have three to five seconds," said Finchman. "An addict's brain will change their mind. There might not be another chance for them."
Attorney General Mark Herring says he's seen some success with his heroin and prescription drug abuse prevention plan this past year, which includes stepping up prosecutions of drug dealers and traffickers. It also includes a safe reporting bill to encourage people to call for help if they are with someone overdosing, without having to worry about facing prosecution.
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It's not just the fringes of society anymore? Now it's women and even teens using drugs? GASP!
The more things change the more they stay the same.
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Roanoke...I'm with ya Zoops :)
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Lol, I totally read the thread title as "Heroin and Vaginas".
Damn, and I got all excited too...
My two favorite things in the world, haha.
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Fincham says she started using opiates in high school. In May of 2014, she used heroin for only the second time in her life, and she overdosed.
"I was 82 days clean at the time and I snorted it and was completely no pulse, not breathing, ash gray, was found on a couch dead," Fincham said.
am I on drugs or is there a gaping hole in this story
and it grinds my gears a bit to hear an addict say they were ever "dead" at some point.
not having a pulse doesnt mean you died. being dead means you arent alive anymore.
it means you cease to be. like when a parrot dies.
edit: yea the more I read the more it seems like it was written by a dolphin with an associates degree in addiction treatment
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Yeah, I done died like faahv taaahms, mang. But day resumussistated me or some shit, erry taahm.
I hat no pulse.
Even the medical definition for death is ceasing of brain activity, which can't be measure unless the patient is hooked up to an EEG machine, which he usually isn't, so they usually go by the presence heartbeat as an indicator of "life" or "death." Generally when the heart stops, death is not too long after, but just because your heart stops does not mean you "died."
That pisses me off to no end too.
It's like "OMG did you see angels and shit? Wow, you're really special, you must have been put on this Earth to accomplish something and He's not gonna let you go till you get it done." (with small tear gathering up in the corner of the right eye).
All these NDEs wasted on idiots.
"A dolphin with an associate's degree," hahaha.