Fentanyl hell
Living with the deadly drug that has ravaged the US & is heading for Britain’s streets
he emerged from it, he decided that enough was enough. He contacted Darcy Shepherd, a former heroin addict, who is a support worker for Getting Recovery Options Working (or GROW) that sends medics, police and social workers to people who Have recently overdosed. The 32-year-old said she was hooked until five years ago. Even while raising her two young children, she was consumed by how she would get her next fix. Darcy admits she dragged her family “to hell and back”. It included constantly stealing from them.
She once pinched her stepdad’s wedding ring. Darcy also nicked credit cards and put her family in tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt.
She works seven days a week, walking the streets for up to eight hours a day, looking for addicts she can help, and finding out who has recently overdosed.
While out walking she carries naloxone – also known by the brand name Narcan – the medication that reverses opioid overdoses if used quickly enough. The officers in Dayton also carry naloxone, which is administered by injection or nasal spray.
Police, together with GROW and other organisations, have played a significant role in helping to reduce the overdoses from 30 per day to one or two.
Dayton’s initiative in reducing the deaths and suicides comes after Donald Trump declared America’s opioid epidemic a national health emergency shortly after becoming president two years ago. The major factor in this city’s successful fight against fentanyl has been the massive increase in treatment facilities for addicts. But the news is not all good.
Cocaine and meth use is rising fast in the area, as it is nationwide. And these substances are often mixed with fentanyl.
Figures suggest overdoses involving fentanyl are still rising nationally, along with those involving cocaine and meth, while deaths involving heroin and prescription drugs are falling slightly.
Darcy thinks Britain would do well to learn from America’s past mistakes. She says: “We’ve lost so many people to addiction in the States... Fentanyl is the problem we all must tackle.” She adds: “Dealers know its power is so great it can hook anyone in an instant.
“But communities who come together and tackle the problem can see countless lives saved. “You’ll never stop opioid abuse entirely, but collaboratively there is so much that can be done when people come together. “They always say ‘when America sneezes, Britain catches cold’. Let’s hope where fentanyl is concerned Dayton can be the medicine the UK needs.”
playing It was like Russian roulette... I didn’t care ANDREW ATWELL FENTANYL ADDICTION ON