Heroin Killing Connecticut Residents At An Alarming Rate

Interactive map of opiate deaths in Connecticut at bottom of article

From the biggest Connecticut cities to the most affluent suburbs, heroin and other opiates are claiming the lives of residents at an alarming rate and legislators are working on legislation to give communities the tools needed to save lives.

Last year, about 500 people died in Connecticut due to overdoses involving, heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone and other opiates. Often there was a combination of opiates or opiates and other drugs.

Ledyard had one reported opiate overdose death in 2014, according to data from the state Medical Examiner’s office. The office records the location of the overdose in its findings (noted in map at bottom of article). Oftentimes the victim is taken to a nearby hospital before he or she dies.

Stamford had eight opiate overdose deaths, Southington; 11, Danbury; 11 and Fairfield; six. Few towns in the state weren’t touched by an opiate-related death in 2014.

More than 300 deaths involved heroin, according to data from the state Medical Examiner’s office.

Heroin and other opiates don’t discriminate; opiates were involved in the deaths of people between 17 years old to 72 years old.

Opiates are easy to become addicted to, even with just one use.

The brain structure changes as substance abuse develops, said Gary Mendell, founder of Shatterproof, an organization that seeks to reduce the number of those suffering from addiction through a number of means.

In a sense, stigmatizing someone for addiction would be like stigmatizing someone for having a heart attack if they didn’t lead the healthiest lifestyle.

On the non-legislative side, the change of the drug addiction stigma is also improving.

“I think stigma is slowly starting to change, but i absolutely think it’s changing way too slow,”Mendell said.

What has been done

Connecticut legislators took a giant step toward preventing overdose deaths by granting immunity to anyone who distributed naloxone, commonly known by its brand name Narcan to someone who was overdosing on an opiate.

The law took effect in October 2014 and helped save 20 lives between then and January, Mendell said.

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that can reverse the respiratory depression that can occur during an overdose. It can buy valuable time for someone on the verge of death to be transported to a hospital for further treatment.

Mendell said that passing legislation is only one of the keys to preventing more deaths. The other important factor is correct implementation.

Unlike many other states, Connecticut equipped and trained its state police department with naloxone.

Many local police departments have also equipped and trained officers with the drug.

The vast majority of Trumbull Police officers are trained and all were expected to be trained by the end of May.

“It’s one more tool in the toolbox for us,” said Officer Tim Fedor, training officer and an EMS instructor.

The drug is used intranasally.

Trumbull Police have been trained for years to provide emergency medical response in order to supplement EMS.

It comes at an important time for Trumbull as the town has had a fatal overdose this year along with several non-fatal overdose cases.

“Heroin seems to be the major player right now,” Trumbull Police spokesman Lt. Leonard Scinto said.

In some cases, the heroin was cut with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. That makes it incredibly dangerous when it is used in clandestine laboratories to amplify the effects of heroin.

In some cases, the heroin/fentanyl mixture has hit so hard and fast that a person begins to overdose before they have time to pull the needle from their arm, Scinto said.

What is being worked on

Connecticut legislators haven’t stopped at their original bill. A bill recently passed both the state house and senate that would pharmacists to prescribe naloxone and train citizens in its use. It awaits Gov. Dannel Malloy’s signature before becoming law.

Currently, regular citizens can obtain naloxone through a doctor’s prescription. The bill is expected to greatly increase the ease and availability of the drug.

Connecticut’s bill will help save lives immediately, Mendell said.

“Many other states have done this so it’s not a new concept and it does save lives,” said State Rep. Peggy Sayers, a co-sponsor of a similar bill to the one that was passed.

The bill would also mandate the use of a tracking system for narcotic prescriptions. The aim is to prevent addicts from doctor-shopping for narcotic pills like oxycodone.

Currently there are 49 states along with the District of Columbia that have operable narcotic prescription tracking systems, however, it’s only mandated to be used in eight states, Mendell said.

Connecticut would become the ninth.

Any narcotic prescription for an amount that would last more than three days would have to be documented within 24 hours.

The system is important because the prolific prescription of painkillers is linear with the number of people dying from prescription painkiller overdoses.

Around 4,000 people died about 16 years ago, Mendell said, and that number jumped to 16,500 — a four-fold increase — last year.

Painkiller prescription has also increased four-fold during the same time period.

“There is no question out there that many doctors are not properly educated about painkillers,” he said.

Mendell said that some states don’t mandate the prescription be logged for two weeks or even a month.

To help raise awareness ShatterProof is also hosting rappelling events in Stamford and Hartford.