How many heroin deaths does it take before we act? Karl Leonard column: How many heroin deaths does it take before we act?

CALL TO ACTION

This is not a problem we can arrest our way out of or place on the shoulders of the criminal justice system.

By Karl Leonard

Last November, Virginia Health Commissioner Marissa Levine declared the opioid addiction crisis a public health emergency. Webster defines "emergency" as an unforeseen combination of circumstances that calls for immediate action. Yet we seem to be reacting as if it were not an emergency. I assure you it is. The many parents who have lost their sons and daughters to this epidemic will also assure you it is.

This epidemic is killing more of our loved ones than car crashes and gun violence combined. Yet there still seems to be a malaise about our response. Every 16 minutes someone dies from an opioid overdose ... every day ... every week ... every month.

Please spare me the argument that those who die asked for this, and that they did it to themselves. First of all, no one has ever asked to be an addict. Four out of five heroin addicts got that way because of the over-prescription of legal drugs by a medical doctor. They certainly didn't "ask for it."

It will not be until we can get past this blame game, past the questioning, past the doubt, past pointing fingers, and past our selfish approach, that we will ever be successful in dealing with this horrible epidemic. As we fail to recognize its presence or do anything about it, 90 more lives are lost a day.

If not now, when? How many more lives have to be lost before we work together as a community and try to fix this? What is your acceptable number of deaths before you are called to action? 100? 1,000? We have already surpassed 30,000 opioid-drug-related deaths nationwide in a year and that doesn't appear to be enough - more than 30,000 of those from opioid overdoses.

This is not a problem we can arrest our way out of or place on the shoulders of the criminal justice system, and certainly not one that will be addressed by placing everyone in jail. Only when the community comes together to work on this emergency will we see any inroads to this epidemic.

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So how do we do this? We must look out of the box. We need a new, unconventional, and comprehensive approach where local, state, and federal partnerships and agencies work not only with one another, but also with the community, with the schools, with the churches, with community groups, with social groups, and with recovery groups, to address this emergency.

Certainly we must eradicate heroin, and all drugs, in our communities. However, law enforcement, fire, and EMS need more alternatives when dealing with the users they encounter - alternatives such as day-reporting recovery centers or recovery "drop off" centers - so those with this awful disease of addiction can be taken to a place better resourced to address it.

Prevention has to begin early. High-school age is too late. It has to start with middle-school-aged children or even earlier. In the Chesterfield Heroin Addiction Recovery Program, the earliest ages when adult addicts first tried heroin hover around 9 and 10 years-old.

Parents need to be engaged with their children at an early age and instill in them that the use of any drugs is bad. They also need to become intrusive parents. By that I mean not only look for the signs of addiction, but also ask the tough questions, hold their children accountable, and look for the drugs if suspected.

Sounds simple enough. Unfortunately, too often parents themselves are addicts, which provides another gateway into drug abuse. This environment automatically places the young children at greater risk.

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But parents can't do it alone. Schools also play an important role. This may be a role they have not considered theirs in the past, but it is certainly one they need to take on now. Again, to be successful with this, we must get out of the box, get out of our comfort areas, and implement unconventional methods of prevention education and treatment opportunities within our schools.

All school employees should be trained regarding how to respond to an emergency overdose situation. Second, prevention needs to be a mandatory part of any curriculum in our middle schools. An important part of any prevention model should be outreach programs where heroin addicts are brought in to tell their stories, provide their testimonies, and warn children off heroin and all drugs before they start to use.

Third, schools should offer confidential treatment for all addictions. In addition to drama club, why not include AA, NA, or recovery clubs during or after school? In addition to guidance counselors, why not provide addiction counselors within the schools? Maybe family recovery groups can be part of after-school activities.

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But schools can't do it alone, either. Perhaps the largest resources we have within our communities are our churches. This is where I see us being successful - if we ever are - in ending the heroin epidemic. We need to educate our church leaders and their congregations about our drug abuse problem. Once they understand dangerous drugs are in their community, they can start to work alongside others to help in solving this emergency.

With the stigma many addicts may have about going to law enforcement directly, perhaps the best outlet would be for them to go to any local church when they need help. Our churches should be trained regarding how to respond to an emergency overdose situation, but also about how to assist people with addiction and provide them with professionals who can help.

Churches should keep a current list of local drug-abuse counselors and treatment agencies in their area. They should conduct programs for youth and parents that explain the issues with heroin epidemic: what to look for, how to deal with it, etc.

As with schools, they too can bring addicts in to tell their stories, provide their testimonies, and warn children off of heroin and all drugs before they start to use.

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Another gap in resources where our community, especially our churches, can help is in identifying places where an addict can go when they either don't have a place to stay or feel they are getting ready to slip back into active drug use. The time to help addicts is the very moment they ask for help.

In these cases - when people are in desperate need of a temporary place to stay or when they acknowledge if they don't have someplace to go they will end up back at their supplier - it is imperative they have access to a safe place to escape the temptation or compulsion to use.

Churches could pre-identify or even maintain "safe places" to help addicts secure an alternative place to go instead of going to other users or returning to their dealer to get more heroin. The reality is that the "next time" or the "first time" they use can be the fatal time. No risk is worth it.

Finally, church leaders are just that ... leaders in their congregations and their communities. They can preach from their pulpit about the dangers of heroin and the need for the community to open arms and all work together for a common cause - to end an epidemic that is taking away our sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, at an alarming rate.

None of these suggestions is conventional. However, remaining conventional in our approach to this epidemic will only cause us to continue to see more and more of our loved ones lose their lives to this horrible drug and the nasty disease that addiction is.

I am not an expert in this field nor is this an all-inclusive list. My intent is to start the dialogue so that we can finally look at this epidemic from a community standpoint; so that we can start making real changes and inroads regarding this disease, changes that will save lives. There are many experts on addiction in our community. But even they can't do it alone. It takes a community.

We can't afford to bog down with bureaucracy any progress in dealing with this crisis. We can't afford to delay any implementation of programs due to politics. It just needs to get done and get done now.

And, while you were reading this column, someone else died from an opioid overdose. The time to act is now.

Karl Leonard is sheriff of Chesterfield County. Contact him at leonardk@chesterfield.gov.