Opioid deaths continue to rise in Delaware. Now, municipal police officers on the front lines say something has to change.
Sussex County Police Chiefs Association President Bob Longo, also Milton police chief, recently told county council the opioid crisis affects every town in the county. He said police can continue to lock a lot of people up, or they can find solutions when people ask for help.
The association has proposed a plan for a social worker to ride with a police officer to deal with substance abuse and mental health issues. When a person is arrested or seeks help, the goal is to provide immediate assistance.
“We believe if someone wants help, it’s our moral obligation to help them out,” Longo said.
Georgetown Police Chief R. L. Hughes said the program aims to intervene before crimes are committed. “When addicted, the brain changes, and people are not making good decisions, which leads them down a criminal path,” he said, a path that has led to a 17 percent rise in criminal complaints since 2015.
How bad is the opioid problem in Delaware? In 2018, state officials estimate, 419 people died from drug overdoses, 20 percent more than in 2017.
That doesn’t even count the more than 3,700 times first responders administered naloxone, bringing back people who otherwise would likely have died. Naloxone use by first responders alone increased 30 percent in 2018 over 2017.
The Centers for Disease Control says in 2018, Delaware was tied for fifth in the nation for the rate of overdose deaths, placing Delaware just after states that have become the face of opioid abuse: West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
That’s not all. The CDC says Delaware ranks No. 1 in the nation for prescribing high-dose opioids and No. 1 for prescribing long-acting opioids.
Sussex chiefs deserve full support for efforts to get addicts the help they need. But until Delaware reduces the high rate of opioid prescriptions, there is no end in sight to the new addicts who will need the same services.
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Editorials are considered and written by Cape Gazette Editorial Board members, including Publisher Chris Rausch, Editor Jen Ellingsworth, News Editor Nick Roth and reporters Ron MacArthur and Chris Flood.
