By all accounts, opioid drug abuse has become epidemic in Philadelphia, but it still doesn’t seem to be a topic that folks are clamoring to discuss in public.
On April 18, City Councilman David Oh hosted a community meeting at Northeast High School to discuss the city’s “heroin and opioid crisis.” In advance of the meeting — which was the first in an ongoing series of seven to be held at various locations around the city — Council passed Oh’s resolution declaring 2016 as “the year to combat the heroin abuse epidemic in Philadelphia.”
But only about a dozen people showed up for Oh’s first meeting, including Councilwomen Maria Quinones-Sanchez and Helen Gym, as well as several members of their staffs. One of the few non-official attendees was appalled at the lack of interest.
“It’s really sad to see the turnout because at my daughter’s funeral, people kept coming up to me and whispering in my ear, ‘My kid’s an attic too,’ ” said the woman, who described herself as the mother of a fatal overdose victim.
The grieving parent was one of about six people who testified for the record to the panel of council members. The group also included a civic association leader from the Northeast, a couple of recovering addicts who now work in the treatment field and a woman who, despite her job with a pharmaceutical company, is worried about her addict niece.
Oh said that he and his colleagues are hoping to collect information that will help them draft legislation to guide public policy on opioid abuse. The term opioid refers to drugs and medicines derived naturally from opium as well as synthetic drugs that have the same effects on the body. Opioids include heroin, morphine and oxycodone. Methadone is also an opioid, although treatment clinics prescribe it to help opioid abusers manage their addictions.
The neighborhood hearings will lead to a final hearing in City Council chambers on May 20, where representatives from the law enforcement and treatment communities are expected to testify. Oh said better coordination is needed among police, the court system, probation officers, bail commissioners and social service providers in dealing with addicts.
“I’m not an expert at this. I’m just a legislator trying to write some laws,” Oh said.
One thing is clear to the councilman: that the strategy of punishing drug abusers with long prison sentences doesn’t seem to be working as a deterrent or for rehabilitation.
“Harsh treatment and long prison sentences haven’t really turned the corner for us,” Oh said.
Communities across the country are experiencing similar problems. In 2014, the United States saw a 14-percent increase in opioid-related deaths according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 10,574 heroin-related overdose deaths that year.
In Pennsylvania, heroin and opioid overdoses are considered the leading cause of accidental death, according to Oh’s office.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Philadelphia Field Division reported last November that Pennsylvania had an overdose rate of 18.9 per 100,000 people during the prior year, ninth-highest in the nation. Philadelphia’s rate was 41.98 per 100,000 people. There were 655 drug overdose deaths in the city in 2014, 53.2 percent of which were related to heroin. Heroin use was responsible for 21.1 percent of primary treatment admissions that year.
Opioid abuse isn’t just an issue in poor neighborhoods. It affects the working class, too. And treatment is difficult to get for many of those addicts. It can be costly.
“I mortgaged my house because as working people, my husband and I didn’t qualify for (financial) help,” said the woman whose daughter lost her battle with addiction.
The family sold their car to get their daughter into a rehab program in Florida. But even then, the young woman’s life was a cycle of recovery and relapses. At one point, she was “clean” for nine months. She tried 13 different rehab programs over time. During one relapse, she overdosed and ended up in an emergency room. But the hospital refused to admit her because she didn’t have insurance coverage.
“She was an amazing person, but nobody wants to help you,” the mother said.
Eventually, the young woman’s body shut down from too much drug abuse over years. She was one of three former classmates at St. Matthew School who died from addiction within several months, the mother said.
“If you’re not affected, you’re lucky because it’s coming,” she said. “This room should be filled because it’s everywhere. I know it.” ••
