Public must demand resources to combat heroin abuse
Over the past month, Cape Gazette editorials have many times noted the plague of heroin spreading across Sussex County. Infants, young people, parents and grandparents all lose their lives to heroin.
The cause of these deaths is known to family members, but at a time when drug-related deaths are increasing, the Office of Homeland Security has tightened rules that previously made public whether a death occurred accidentally or by natural causes. As the number of opioid deaths creeps upward, homeland security officials refuse to make public even the most basic facts of an individual’s death.
This policy serves no one, not the public who needs to know how widespread and dangerous heroin has become, and not the families, who grieve in quiet isolation.
Unlike Delaware, the town of Gloucester, Mass., last year took a bold step. It began with the police chief, who as a detective had arrested many addicts and dealers.
‘”I’ve never arrested a tobacco addict, nor have I ever seen one turned down for help when they develop lung cancer, whether or not they have insurance,” the chief wrote. “The reasons for the difference in care between a tobacco addict and an opiate addict are stigma and money. Petty reasons to lose a life.”
Under Gloucester’s policy, addicts who walk into the police station with drugs or needles are not charged; they are instead assigned to mentors who help them access detox and recovery. A deal with local pharmacies ensures people who overdose receive an antidote – all paid for, the chief says, with money seized during drug investigations.
Forty departments in nine states have adopted versions of this program. Sussex police departments should join them – except the county lacks facilities to help all the people who might come through the doors.
This must change.
Solving the heroin problem requires ending the stigma and providing care.
It demands seeing the heroin problem as the epidemic it is. Delaware can solve its heroin problem when the public demands the resources needed to solve this health emergency.
