I'm sure most of you have seen
the horrifying picture of the 4 year old sitting in the back seat of a minivan
while his grandmother and a male are seen overdosing in the front seats. This
picture is the reality of the heroin crisis in our country and for first
responders it's, unfortunately, an everyday scene.
The heroin addict was born in
1874 when the drug was introduced as a "safe" alternative to the
morphine addicts derived from the tens of thousands of Northern and
Confederate soldiers who had become addicted. It has been present in
American culture ever since. Heroin, morphine and other opiate derivatives were
sold legally in the United States until 1920 when Congress enacted The
Dangerous Drug Act after seeing the danger. Fast forward to 1996 when OxyContin
was introduced and now that heroin is used because it is easier to use, much
cheaper and easily available.
Opioid addiction is now
an epidemic, with 18,893 overdose deaths related to prescription pain
relievers, and 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2014. And it's only
getting worse. Which means everyone in the United States has or will be
affected especially the first responders who see it daily.
In Marion Ohio, the police chief
stopped charging those who overdosed (Of course drug traffickers are still
arrested). Instead authorities rely on other tools — prevention,
education and naloxone (Narcan) an overdose medication — to try to
put a dent in an epidemic that killed more than 1,400 people last year in
Ohio. Police and paramedics now also have to be drug-treatment specialists. The
Ohio Department of Health states that Naloxone (Narcan) was used 19,782 times
by emergency personnel in Ohio last year. In another Ohio town one paramedic
has used naxolone 5 times in one shift. You wonder what is does to first
responders who everyday see people on the edge of death over and over and
over again because of addiction.
Several of our products are used
for training in basic life saving skills that are used constantly in this
battle. We hope one day they aren't needed near as often as they are today.
It's likely that first responders
will continue to battle this crisis daily and with their knowledge someday help
end it. We can only hope.
