Within the last few weeks, three heroin overdoses were reported in the Chester area. Two thirds of the drug-addiction epidemic is in what we call the “good neighborhoods,” not necessarily the inner city or the strip of Jefferson Davis Hwy. that runs through Chesterfield. The suburban areas that we think are immune to heroin addiction are not.
In 2014, in Chesterfield alone, 53 heroin overdoses were reported by Chesterfield Police, according to Elizabeth Caroon, public affairs officer for the police department. In 2015, in just 10 months, heroin overdoses were reported at 76 – a 43 percent increase.
According to Regina Whitsett, executive director of SAFE (Substance Abuse Free Environment), told Village News that in 2011 there were many less heroin overdoses in Chesterfield. She said there were 30 overdoses that year. Compared to the to-date rate in 2015 there has been a 158 percent increase.
The Center for Disease Control reported that in 2013, an estimated 517,000 persons in the U.S. reported heroin abuse, a nearly 150 percent increase since 2007.
Whitsettt said the reason for the increase is a progression from prescription pain relievers such as Percocet or Vicodin to heroin. She said heroin is cheaper and easier to get.
We’ve been told that the source is the Richmond and Baltimore area, and up and down [Interstate] 95. Users in the suburbs of Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover go downtown Richmond for their fix, Whitsett said she had been told.
But last year two men were arrested in Midlothian for heroin distribution, one lived in an apartment off Hull Street Rd. and the other was from New Jersey.
“The average age of [those who]overdose on heroin is the early 30s” according to Whitsett. “The majority of them are Caucasian.”
How do you get your arms around treatment and prevention?
“There is a very big community collaborative to address this,” Whitsett said. “Several different work groups [are working on heroin addiction issues]: we have a treatment workgroup; law enforcement workgroup; a medical workgroup and we have a medical and prevention workgroup. These workgroups have come up with a strategy that they would like to implement in the next six months to a year to reduce the numbers.
“We’ve had a lot of luck with the prescription take back effort, to get prescription drugs off the street, which SAFE has collected over 13,000 pounds partnering with the Chesterfield County Police Department since 2010.
“The police department can’t arrest out of this problem, we have to work on prevention, education and treatment,” Whitsett said.
According to Lt. Jason Elmore, Chesterfield Fire and EMS Public Information Officer/Chaplain, EMS (Emergency Medical Service) uses a medication called Naloxone, which can be administered for heroin overdoses. It helps a person’s body to resume respiration. Naloxone has been used for years by emergency medical technicians and emergency room doctors to reverse opioid overdose emergencies.
The jury is still out whether this epidemic can be brought under control.
