Drowning addiction: A rise in opioid overdoses
“I think we all knew that someday the call would come…but it still doesn’t prepare you for the time that it does come…it still hurts…”
KC Hoffman lost her sister a year ago on her birthday. Patty Faber passed away with a list of opioids in her system. In her early days, she had endometriosis, which is a painful disorder in the uterus, and was prescribed the opioid pill Oxycontin by her doctor in Tucson, Ariz. to help ease that pain.
According to Hoffman, “She became addicted and then he just stopped the prescription, didn’t stir step ladder her down or anything and she turned to street drugs ”
Doctors are now more aware of the problem and proactive in having stricter standards on how they prescribe any type of opioid.
” We are smarter now and were looking at that as a problem we know that it’s an issue and I think we’ve have steadily seen a decline in the number of prescriptions.”
This is according to Dr. Bharat Magu, Chief Medical Officer at the Yuma Regional Medical Center.
In Arizona, there have been over 5,500 suspected opioid overdoses and 820 suspected opioid deaths, this is according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Yuma is seeing a slight increase in opioid overdoses. The Yuma Regional Medical Center saw 73 overdose cases and 2 deaths from June 2017 to December 2017.
96,000 pounds of drugs were confiscated in 2017 in the state of Arizona. During an interview with U.S Customs Border Protection Chief Officer Annica Zacarias, the attempt to smuggle fentanyl has been a real concern in their department.
To fight the rise of opioid overdoses and deaths, the Arizona legislature passed Arizona’s Opioid Epidemic Act, implemented by Governor Doug Ducey.
The plan layouts several new tactics to combat the fight against the epidemic. Below is the link to the plan.
Back here at home, the Yuma Police department has over 35 officers trained to use the emergency treatment, Naloxone or Narcan, which is a medication used to reverse an overdose. YPD is already on their way in training the rest of their officers. YRMC has the product as well and guarantees that once the patient is treated and stable enough to go home, they have help available outside the community such as a rehab program.
Mayor Doug Nicholls is concerned of any sort of drug increase but he believes education is a major factor in combating the increased use of opioids. His message to the community says,
“We have our resource officers in the schools and that’s really key to try to get in early to set the tone….The long-range plan is really more of an education to try to deter people from ever getting there.”
