Thirty-three Bartholomew County residents died of drug overdoses in 2021, a record number that sadly keeps topping itself year after year.
As The Republic’s Andy East reported recently, fentanyl, which is cheap and up to 100 times more potent than heroin, was the leading cause of drug deaths locally last year. Yet experts say even more powerful opioids are on the horizon and already are being seen elsewhere in the US.
Local officials are concerned that widely available and deadly fentanyl paired with the isolating impacts of the COVID pandemic are behind the high numbers of overdose deaths. They worry these conditions are likely to continue to be with us for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, fentanyl is even showing up in drugs that wouldn’t be considered deadly or even “street drugs”. For example, Columbus police said last year they seized more than 100 counterfeit Xanax pills that had been laced with fentanyl. It’s not known whether those pills are believed to have killed anyone, but the message is unmistakable: drug dealers are willing to exploit a cheap and powerful ingredient without care as to who they might kill.
If you or someone you know is battling drug addiction, help is available. If you’re looking for help, call 211 to be connected with potentially life-saving services. If you’re looking for treatment referral and information, call the confidential National Helpline at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at 800-662-HELP.
A call could save a life.
A variety of local inpatient and outpatient services are arrayed to help what can sometimes seem like an intractable problem. We’d like to highlight just a couple of them.
The Treatment and Support Center (TASC) at Columbus Regional Hospital recently began offering walk-in hours on Mondays and Wednesdays for new and previously discharged clients. “One of the things that we’re doing in response to the opioid epidemic is to try to increase access by opening up these walk-in hours,” TASC medical director Dr. Kevin Terrell said.
On the first Monday the center was open to walk-ins last month, six people sought help, five of whom had never sought treatment. Learn more about TASC at crh.org.physician-practices/treatment-and-support-center.
The Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress, or ASAP, strives to meet the needs of people seeking treatment, and not just in getting clean. ASAP provides sober-living facilities in the community for people trying to overcome substance abuse. Beyond recovery from addiction, ASAP’s Hub aims to help people get the assistance, housing and employment services to get a new start in life. Learn more about this organization at asapbc.org.
We’re grateful for these and other services that are making a difference even as drugs get perpetually deadlier. These organizations deserve our help and support. The number of people who have died as a result of drug overdoses certainly would be higher if these organizations weren’t here to help.
The amount of money we spend as a community helping people beat addiction and lead productive lives pales in comparison to the societal costs of drug overdoses. Each of the 33 who died last year left a hole in the hearts of their friends and loved ones.
How do we put a price on that?
