By Brian LaMuraglia and Kevin Coughlin
Pain relievers are causing some painful outcomes. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- Nearly half a million Americans have died from drug overdoses–including prescription painkillers–since 2000.
- Over that period sales of prescription opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone nearly have quadrupled…and so have deaths from such drugs.
- Some 78 Americans die every day from overdoses of opioids that include medications and heroin.
Across Morris County, law enforcement agencies and nonprofits are boosting their efforts to convince doctors and patients to prescribe opioids only as a last result, and in minimal doses.
“A lot of people who come to see me got started by going for medications for sports injuries. Maybe it was just six Percocets. And they got addicted. They can’t afford Percocets again, so they’re going for a $3 bag of heroin. And it takes over their life,” said Alton Robinson, a counselor with the Center for Addiction Recovery Education & Success (CARES) in Rockaway.
Robinson was part of a team that fanned across Morristown’s Manahan Village last week distributing information about the risks of prescription painkillers.
He was joined by Morris County Freeholder Hank Lyon, Morristown Councilwoman Hiliari Davis, Police Chief Pete Demnitz, chiropractor Yale Levin, and others.
The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, meanwhile, has been hosting public seminars across the region, including one this month in Parsippany for Morris area clergy.
“I don’t think people are aware of the depth of this problem. It seems like it’s across all age groups and race groups,” said Pastor David Smazik of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown.
“We have some family members of people that are struggling and we try to be a support for them, and get people to the right counselors and the right kinds of therapies.”
Over the summer, a homeless man died on the Morristown Green of an apparent overdose. Last year, Morristown police rushed to the Green to revive an overdose victim with Narcan, an FDA-approved emergency drug that has saved dozens of people across the county, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Unfortunately, dozens more have not been so lucky.
“We are losing our citizens to this. It is the number one cause of accidents here. It’s so deadly,” Chief Assistant Prosecutor Bradford Seabury said of the drug problem.
Speakers at the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy included Seabury’s boss, Morris County Prosecutor Fredic M. Knapp; Rockaway Borough Police Chief Douglas Scheer and Dr. Mario Finkelstein, a psychiatrist specializing in addiction treatment.
Clergy were given lists of resources in the fight against heroin. Scheer emphasized to the clergy that saying “no ” or “stop” to an addict doesn’t work. Prevention is imperative.
“If we can safeguard against firearms, we can safeguard against opioids,” said Knapp.
The first battleground is the bathroom, according to Barbara Kauffman of Morris County Prevention is Key, another group handing out literature in Morristown.
“Seventy percent of kids report getting pills from the family medicine cabinet,” she said.
Hiliari Davis, the councilwoman, said public outreach always is worth trying. “Maybe we can help somebody,” she said.
Morristown Police Chief Pete Demnitz, a proponent of walking the beat, said door-to-door, grass roots communication is the most effective way to convey important messages. “Person to person is the most important thing,” he said.
Volunteers also planned to hand out information outside doctors’ and dentists’ offices.
