ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Monday unveiled a strategy to combat heroin overdoses, a problem that isn’t confined to Charm City or the state of Maryland.
Sad to report, but her strategy doesn’t recognize the source of the problem.
Understand, my fellow Americans, we have heroin a problem.
We know drugs and pharmaceuticals can and do kill.
We know the use of narcotics, legitimate and illegal, is hitting us in the gut, with heroin use surging. In fact, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two of the fastest-growing heroin-usage segments are women and the middle class.
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We know there is no such thing as “heroin abuse.”
We know all this yet continue to focus on the results of heroin use instead of the prevention said. Heck, we even provide free needles to heroin addicts and IV drug users, enabling them to get high but lessen the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and/or Hepatitis C, and injecting lethal doses of OxyContin, the “other” street narcotic, but not run the risk of getting high with a dirty needle.
While taxpayer-funded needle exchange programs may be reducing some health risks, these policies pile onto others — primarily drug addiction and an addict’s primary goal, which is getting resources to get high.
And therein lies the hypocritical rub.
Let’s call it the “Before and After Effect”: A heroin user wants to get high, already has the resources and her works (most often a needle, a spoon, rubber band and fire), then secures the dope. She then finds somewhere to do the deed.
After momentarily nodding, she emerges and returns to her work station.
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After a while, she repeats her steps. Before long, that’s all on that’s on her mind — getting high.
The likelihood that she overdoses is a problem, and the likelihood that she injects “bad” heroin is a problem, too.
An estimated 18,900 Baltimoreans use heroin, and among those users, 192 of them died in 2014. In 2013, there were 150 heroin fatalities.
The state of Maryland had 578 heroin deaths last year, about 14 percent of the nation’s overall count, which was an estimated 8,200.
Moreover, not only is the number of heroin overdose deaths increasing, so are deaths from methadone and other synthetic opioids.
In other words, pharmaceutical drug use is on the rise. It’s as if we want to be numbed to reality.
The mayor said the heroin problem is so acute that “bold and decisive” action is needed, then she went wobbly, proposing drug-treatment on demand, training families to use antidotes if a user ODs, an informational website, and a plan to reduce the stigma of heroin addiction.
Such programs are par for the course of policies that call a junkie a junkie, but use the politically correct term substance “abuse,” the very word HuffingtonPost.com used when reporting the CDC data.
Again, there is no such thing as “heroin abuse.” The two words are an oxymoron.
It’s sad that Mrs. Rawlings-Blake has yet to lay out a strategy to solve the front-end of the problem, and with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan having named Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford to run point on the state’s heroin problem, we had better hope he doesn’t fall victim to the same ploy.
America’s heroin problem is overdosing or injecting “bad” heroin.
The problem is at least three layers deep:
1) People trying to numb themselves.
2) People abusing prescription pain killers like OxyContin and doctors and pharmacists aiding and abetting in their addiction to gateway drugs.
3) Policies that ignore No. 1.
Our addiction problems won’t go away unless and until we sound the alarm, and elect politicians who will do exactly the same.
After all, who are the real beneficiaries of problem No. 1 and problem No. 2?
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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