Pubdate: Mon, 18 Aug 2014
Source: Journal and Courier (IN)
Copyright: 2014 Federated Publications, Inc
Contact: http://www.jconline.com/services/forms/letter_to_editor.shtml
Website: http://www.jconline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1691
Author: Steven Porter

A RISING TIDE OF DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS

Despite the efforts of area educators, law enforcement and medical 
personnel, the death toll from drugs continues to climb in Tippecanoe 
County as area residents succumb in increasing numbers to the 
suffocating grip of addiction.

Accidental drug overdoses killed more people here last year than in 
any of the previous 20 years, according to the findings of a report 
compiled by Deputy Coroner Matt Wietbrock. And Coroner Donna Avolt 
said a preliminary review of this year's deaths suggests the region 
is on pace to tie 2013's unprecedented high.

That uptick is far more than a statistical phenomenon for the 
families left behind.

Brayden Ely, 18, said he and his uncle used to be close. They'd fish 
and hunt together regularly and talk openly about the evils of drug abuse.

"You'd've never known, if you were to meet him, that he had a problem 
or an addiction," Ely said.

But his uncle, Daniel Knowles, was in deep and died in 2011 at age 28 
after taking heroin one last time.

His lethal high was one of 18 accidental drug overdose deaths 
investigated locally that year. The figure jumped to 28 last year.

Avolt said one of the most striking facts about the local drug 
epidemic is that affluence offers no immunity.

"This is crossing all socioeconomic boundaries," she said.

Among the 188 lives lost during the past two decades were three 
former athletes who attended West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School, one 
of the top-ranked schools in the state, she said. And just last year, 
a Purdue University student died after overdosing inside First Street 
Towers, one of the newest, nicest residence halls on campus.

What started out as recreational fun for Ely's uncle slowly intensified.

"It just takes over your life and ruins you," Ely said.

That's a message he's been trying to tell his friends, he said, 
noting that his uncle started out smoking pot infrequently. 
Gradually, he waded deeper and deeper until the day his head slipped 
below the surface.

Ely said some of his friends are receptive to his message. Others, 
for some reason, are not.

Education central in effort against drug surge

Wietbrock said the ultimate goal of his study was to raise awareness 
by making clear just how drastic the increase in overdose deaths has been.

"If we can inspire that kind of awareness in our community," he said, 
"then I feel like we've really succeeded here."

That's the same mission driving Terri Knowles to address groups of 
high school students about the lethal habit her son couldn't kick.

"As long as I can get the story out there, I will do that until they 
put me in the ground," she said.

Local law enforcement also actively seeks to educate the public, 
young people especially.

Lafayette Police Capt. Brad Bishop, commander of the Tippecanoe 
County Drug Task Force, said officers reach students through programs 
such as D.A.R.E. and personal contacts, such as school resource 
officers, but he said adults also need to be educated about drugs, 
legal and illegal alike.

Bishop said the drugs proving most problematic this year were barely 
on his radar when he joined the Lafayette police force 16 years ago. 
Whereas marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine were most common back 
then, now heroin and prescription pills pose the biggest threat.

"We are seeing that heroin is readily available in Lafayette, as I 
would think it is in most places," he said. Pills prescribed legally 
are being sold with increasing regularity on Tippecanoe County 
streets, he said.

Not all overdoses end in death

Wietbrock said his report assessed only local deaths involving drugs 
or alcohol investigated by the Tippecanoe County Coroner's Office.

"Those are just the fatal ones," he said. "Those aren't the ones that 
the person in crisis was able to seek medical treatment successfully 
to save their life."

He also counted drug-related suicides separately.

Marc Estes, chief of emergency medicine at IU Health Arnett Hospital, 
said he sees an average of one overdose each week.

Though meth and coke are dangerous, Estes said medical personnel 
often are able to resuscitate patients overdosing on those drugs. It 
can be far more difficult, he said, to bring back someone who has 
mixed narcotics with benzodiazepines, which include such branded 
drugs as Xanax, Klonopin and Valium.

Bishop said users who mix drugs expose themselves to the greatest risk.

"That's where it becomes lethal," he said.

And surviving doesn't necessarily mean the lucky ones are OK, Estes noted.

"They frequently end up with a tube down their throat, with us 
breathing for them," he said, noting that medical staffers then check 
vital organs to assess whether more damage was done.

Report completed in late coroner's honor

Wietbrock said he wasn't the first to embark on a comprehensive 
review of local drug deaths. It was former Coroner Martin Avolt who 
took up the task, he said, but the research was cut short when Avolt 
died in August 2012 in an auto accident.

A great deal of work was needed to complete the study, but the task 
was worthwhile, Wietbrock said after presenting his findings to the 
American Academy of Forensic Science.

"My goal when we started this was to really get an idea of whether or 
not the national trends that we were seeing ... were those national 
trends translating to the local level?" Wietbrock said.

The study confirmed his hypothesis.

The data Wietbrock collected show the number of accidental drug 
overdose deaths nearly quadrupled from the first decade to the 
second. There were 39 such deaths from 1994 to 2003, then 149 from 
2004 to 2013.

Census data show the population of Tippecanoe County climbing about 
32 percent from 1990 to 2010, but the number of accidental drug 
overdose deaths increased more than 282 percent from one decade to 
the next, clearly outpacing the county's population growth.

Wietbrock also noted that overdoses surpassed motor vehicle accidents 
as the leading cause of accidental death involving drugs or alcohol. 
Vehicle wrecks held the title until 2000. Overdoses have been on top 
each year since.

And investigating an overdose death is costly.

Just last month, Avolt had to request an additional appropriation of 
$80,000 to support her operation through the rest of 2014.

Avolt said she recently reviewed a budget prepared by her late 
husband about a decade ago and noticed that the coroner's office is 
spending about 10 times as much today.

About 75 percent of that increase could be attributed to the rise in 
drug overdose cases, she said.

 From 1993 to 1995, overdose cases represented less than 1 percent of 
the coroner's caseload. In 2001-2006, that figure fluctuated between 
4 percent and 9 percent. It peaked in 2009 above 15 percent and was 
just less than 13 percent last year.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom