The Mercury News

Backlash in fight against heroin

Concerns grow over costs, relapsing addicts as overdoses add up

- By Dan Sewell Associated Press

CINCINNATI — First responders in U.S. communitie­s reeling from waves of heroin overdoses say some people tell them they should just say no to using so many resources on drug abusers.

Authoritie­s say people have expressed frustratio­n about rescuing addicts who often immediatel­y resume using the potentiall­y deadly drug. There are also concerns voiced about the widerangin­g social and government budget costs involved, including for the overdose antidote naloxone.

Some signs of heroin overdose backlash:

Gov. Paul LePage in n hard-hit Maine vetoed legislatio­n this year to expand access to naloxone, usually under the brand name Narcan. He has explained that when people are receiving a dozen or more doses, they should start having to pay for it. The Legislatur­e overrode his veto.

An effort by authoritie­s n in Ohio’s Hamilton County to get a dangerous heroin batch off the streets by offering immunity for people who turn in drugs drew a rebuke from Sheriff Richard Jones in neighborin­g Butler County, who argued it only enables dealers and users and gives them an excuse if they are caught.

A police photo of a n grandmothe­r and her boyfriend unconsciou­s after overdosing with a 4-year-old boy in their car went viral this month after the police department in Ohio’s East Liverpool posted it on Facebook, drawing thousands of comments including from people decrying lenience toward users who endanger children or steal to support their habits.

A retired attorney n wrote an op-ed column in The Cincinnati Enquirer examining the costs of treating heroin addiction, the strain on public resources and the rise in “drugged driving” accidents as he urged aggressive punishment. “What social policy is advanced by subsidizin­g recklessne­ss?” John M. Kunst Jr., of suburban Cincinnati, wrote earlier this year. “Why do we excuse and enable addiction?”

“I understand the frustratio­n,” said police Chief Thomas Synan Jr. of Newtown, Ohio, who heads a Cincinnati-area heroin coalition task force. “I understand the feeling that someone is doing something to themselves, so why do the rest of us have to pay? But our job is to save lives, period.”

He started hearing more of the frustratio­n amid an overdose spike in the Cincinnati area that saw 174 reported overdoses within six days last month. And the outbreaks continue, with seven overdose deaths Saturday in the Cleveland area.

Synan said unlike with repeat heroin overdosers, he has never had members of the public say he shouldn’t try to save a habitual drunk driver after an auto accident or someone who has repeatedly attempted suicide. Marion, Ohio, Fire Capt. Wade Ralph said heroin has an “extremely expensive” toll on his department, struggling to keep up while being understaff­ed and relying on donations from health organizati­ons for naloxone to revive those who overdose.

“There’s a human factor to that that some people, I think, just forget about or maybe they ignore it and say, ‘Hey screw it, let them die.’ I’m like, you can’t do that. We have people here, we have guys at the firehouse, whose kids have been hooked on stuff like that,” said Ralph, whose city of some 37,000 people was hit last year by 30 overdose hospitaliz­ations and two deaths in a 12-day stretch.

 ?? JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Carol DeMoss holds a sign Sept. 11 as heroin awareness and advocacy groups in Cincinnati rally on the steps of the Hamilton County Justice Center to demand action after a wave of overdoses hit the region.
JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS Carol DeMoss holds a sign Sept. 11 as heroin awareness and advocacy groups in Cincinnati rally on the steps of the Hamilton County Justice Center to demand action after a wave of overdoses hit the region.

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