The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Opioids still a problem, experts say
GOSHEN — The opioid crisis in Litchfield County is truly a crisis and it’s not getting better, results of a recent in-depth study show.
Members of the Litchfield County Opioid Task Force presented recent figures on addiction and deaths from opioids to the Northwest Hills Council of Governments on Thursday.
“There is now more of a chance to die from an overdose than in a car accident,” said John Simoncelli of Greenwoods Counseling Referrals Inc., the executive director of the task force.
He noted that in 2017, there were more than 1,000 overdoses from opioid use in Litchfield County with 54 of those ending in death.
In then preliminary data, the state Department of Public Health said in a May 2018 release that emergency departments in Connecticut “saw an average of 180 suspected drug overdose visits per week during January-April” of that year. During that time, Litchfield County saw 129 of those suspected drug overdose visits, while Hartford
County saw 1021 visits; New Haven County, 907; Fairfield County, 416; New London County, 178; Middlesex County, 176; Tolland County, 150; and Windham County, 113, the DPH release said.
The problem is so significant, Simoncelli said, due to the practice of over subscribing of opioids by doctors for pain relief. He added that the path to addiction is often the result of some kind of adverse experience that has caused the individual to seek relief through drugs.
“We found that treating physical pain with opioids was also treating emotional pain,” Simoncelli said. “People who are struggling with addiction are right next door. We need to break the stigma.”
The crisis has mobilized counselors, doctors, emergency room attendants and everyday citizens, said Lauren Pristo, network coordinator for the task force.
“We have worked to increase the availability of Narcan,”a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose, Pristo said. It is now available to anyone who requests it at a pharmacy, she added. “Everyone should have it.”
The task force has also seen how emergency centers have streamlined their response to overdoses. It means “there is somewhere for the (patient) to go right when they’re ready” to seek treatment, Simoncelli said.
An opioid treatment admissions report in the the task force study show that, from 2012 to 2017, the number of admissions statewide increased by 32 percent. In Northwest Connecticut, however, the admission statistics show a 110 percent increase in the same time frame.
The admissions in 2012 were 679 in the northwest region, compared to 1,425 in 2016.
With the growth in the number of people being treated and released from state-sponsored or state-funded treatment centers, the issue of sober homes is also being addressed, Pristo said.
The services offered at a sober home can include counseling and medical services, but other sober homes are not appropriate programs, experts have said.
A new law approved last summer calls for a registry of sober homes that are certified by the state. Operators of certified homes would be required to submit a weekly report to the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
Pristo said the task force supports best practices at sober homes and is working to make them safe.