Despite the negative impact opiate addiction has had on all corners of every county in the tri-state region, seldom is the decade-old drug epidemic mentioned by law enforcement or local media unless a monetary settlement is announced on the state and/or federal levels of laws.
Otherwise, ho-hum … even though the overdose death rate has been higher than ever in 2022.
“That’s because Fentanyl was a game-changer when it entered into the equation, and because the epidemic has become so ignored that most people do not realize that many addicts now have progressed to the point to where they are abusing straight fentanyl for their daily high instead of laced heroin, and they are doing that multiple times per day,” reported Chris Byers, vice president of Pinnacle Treatment Centers. “That means addicts are now walking that fine between alive and dead.
“Trust me; there is that fine line between alive and dead, and even though their tolerance is high, death is possible every single time. The scariest part about it is that the abuser knows they could die, and they don’t care one bit. They need that high that badly,” he said. “But wanting that high is killing people left and right, and that is why we are at the highest rate of overdose we’ve ever seen in this country.”
And yet, ho-hum … even though leaders of local law enforcement agencies make sure their officers are adequately prepared for the OD emergency calls.
“There have always been illegal drug sales, and there always will be, but the opiates changed everything for law enforcement,” said Marshall County Sheriff Bill Helms. “We have never been asked to do what we have to do now as far as overdoses, and the frequency always has been alarming to me.
“Our drug task force does a tremendous job and I believe the residents of the county owe those people a lot of respect because they are very busy. Very busy, and that’s because of how much heroin and fentanyl have been coming into the county,” he said. “But we’re used to it now, and that’s a pretty scary thing.”
Shut Down and Shut In
It was in 2014 when U.S. Attorney Bill Ihlenfeld created the Ohio Valley Addiction Action Plan, an initiative that included a Work Group that involved various members of the community including W.Va. Erikka Storch (D-3) and Ohio County Circuit Court Judge David Sims.
Judge Sims said at the time:
“It has become clear to me through my work as a judge that a multi-pronged approach is necessary if we’re going to loosen the tight grip that addiction has upon our communities. Hopefully, by bringing together the various skills of the people that make up this working group, we’ll make a real difference and save lives.”
There is no measuring stick to calculate the impact the working group had on the residents of the Upper Ohio Valley, but just six years later a coronavirus pandemic isolated everyone for nearly two years, including those addicted to opiates.
And, unfortunately, drug overdose deaths reached new heights from April of 2020 to April of 2021 in West Virginia, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s an estimated 1,600 deaths in West Virginia over 12 months.
“We did see the overdose rates begin to drop a couple of years ago, but then the pandemic started and the rates got a lot worse. The pandemic was isolating and it gave people too much time on their hands,” Byers explained. “The numbers went up rather than down, and the isolation is probably the biggest reason for that.
“Let’s not forget, too, that the people were cut off from their support meetings. At first, there were no meetings at all, and then, even on platforms like Zoom, it just wasn’t the same,” he said. “But one of the best things about a 12-step meeting is the fellowship that takes place, and I’m told by a lot of people that gaining that is much more difficult online than it is in person. So, yes, that’s another reason why the pandemic made it a lot worse just when we started to see some improvement.”
Too Potent
If a “bad batch” of heroin is in the area, officials with the Wheeling-Ohio County Emergency Management Agency want local residents to know.
That is why a text alert system was created, and when more than three overdoses are reported to the EMA, messages are distributed to those who registered to receive them. A “bad batch,” according to EMA Director Lou Vargo, is defined as a supply of heroin that is far more potent than what is normally trafficked in Ohio County.
“But now, most of the overdoses are because of Fentanyl and not because the heroin is more pure than usual,” Vargo said. “When we started the alert system there were a lot of people who registered and that was great, but that pace has slowed considerably.”
Byers, whose company did open Brilliant Treatment Services in Belmont County, believes it is because most have become numb.
“People don’t care anymore, and it is very scary when that happens, and it is happening in this region right now,” he insisted. “For a few years, the opiates were in the headlines, and the overdoses were a major, major concern, but nowadays it seems as if people have accepted the problems as a part of life, and they’ve moved on. That’s not good at all, and that’s because every time we look the other way, it always gets much worse than it was before.
“But people have gone numb to this; I know, because it is very seldom when I am asked anything about it,” he continued. “You do see billboards about it, but anymore the overdoses are taking place pretty much anywhere: at the movie theatre, in the grocery store parking lot, in restrooms at gas stations. Addicts don’t care, and now it seems not many others do either.”
