drugs

Joe Donovan knows a thing or two about hard living. A few years ago the Raleigh-based veteran was diagnosed with a rare adrenal disorder, Addison’s Disease, which can cause fainting spells that require an emergency injection. Since his diagnosis in 2004, Donovan has been required to carry emergency medication and a syringe on him at all times, as well as to wear a bracelet explaining the disorder and how to administer the injections.

Not long after his diagnosis and the discovery of a tumor on his pituitary gland, Donovan lost his job. Soon after, with pending surgery and medical bills piling up, he became homeless. Over the next five years he was homeless twice, for as long as two years at a time. Living in homeless shelters with nothing but a backpack and some clothes, Donovan had many things to worry about, but among his concerns were the syringes he kept in his backpack along with the emergency medication. As a veteran, he obtained the syringes from the VA for his disorder and had every right to carry them, but because he was and subject to the same stereotypes about drug use that plague many homeless people, he often worried about run-ins with the police. Would they believe his story that the syringes were for a medical condition?

Denise Cullen has lived through one of the worst tragedies a mother can experience – losing a child. But if there is anything worse than losing a child, it is losing a child to a drug overdose, because grief is accompanied by stigma and blame.

Denise lost her only son, Jeff, when he was 27 years old to a fatal combination of morphine and Xanax. She remembers him as “warm, open, loving, bright and stubborn. He had a huge laugh and a fabulous smile,” she says. He was also impulsive and suffered from ADD.

Liz Perkins was thrilled when her first child was a boy. She named him John, after his father and grandfather, and throughout his childhood years he was an adorable, active baby who climbed out of his crib early and got into everything.

John did well in school and was always the life of every party. But in college, a series of stressful events lead him to experiment with drugs, particularly opiate pain relievers like Percocet and Oxycontin.

Liz was shocked when she realized her little boy was addicted to drugs. “I spent every waking minute getting him help,” she says. “He and I had a close relationship. He was smart and had his whole life ahead of him and I couldn’t believe this was happening to us. I felt scared and alone.”

Interview with Anne Lamberti, Clinical Addiction Specialist

Add one more voice to the clamor for 911 Good Samaritan laws in North Carolina: substance abuse counselors. 911 Good Samaritan laws, which would allow witnesses to a drug overdose to call for help by removing criminal liability for drug possession for the victim and the caller, are gaining traction among the addictions treatment community. And who better to comment on drug policy than the professionals who face a parade of broken lives every day?

Anne Lamberti is a licensed clinical addiction specialist at Southlight Judicial Services in Wake County, North Carolina. She sees firsthand the devastation that drug addiction can cause. But she sees something else equally disturbing – people being arrested after calling 911 to save someone’s life.

Interview with Ron Martin, Retired Law Enforcement Officer Residing in Raleigh, NC

Ronald Martin is a retired officer with over 20 years of experience in law enforcement. His career took him through a wide array of different departments, including patrol, special operations squad, and the narcotics division. He entered the police force around the time that crack-cocaine was becoming a popular street drug, especially where he worked in New York City.

“For about 7 years in the 1980s, nearly every robbery, rape, or assault we encountered was in some way connected to crack-cocaine,” says Ron. “Almost everyone we arrested was carrying crack pipes, vials, or antennas from cars and umbrellas.”

On October 1, 2012, Florida became the newest state to enact 911 Good Samaritan legislation in an effort to curb statewide fatalities from drug overdose. Good Samaritan laws grant immunity from drug possession or paraphernalia charges to witnesses to an overdose who call 911 for emergency medical services. The law states, “A person acting in good faith who seeks medical assistance for an individual experiencing a drug-related overdose may not be charged, prosecuted, or penalized pursuant to this chapter for possession of a controlled substance if the evidence for possession of a controlled substance was obtained as a result of the person’s seeking medical assistance.”

The law was passed none too soon for Florida, a state with one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in the country. In 2010, 98 of the top 100 doctors dispensing oxycodone nationwide were located in Florida, and the state dispensed more oxycodone than all other states combined.

A lot of misinformation and stigma surrounds the use of methadone as treatment for opiate addiction, but the problems are even more apparent when the patient in the treatment program is pregnant. Methadone, the most common treatment for opiate addiction in the United States, is a synthetic opioid that can ease withdrawal symptoms for dependent persons without creating a “high.” Typically, patients at methadone clinics will visit at least once a day to receive a prescribed dose of methadone, often in liquid form. Over time, patients may be allowed to take doses home and many are eventually weaned off the treatment. The goal of methadone treatment for pregnant women is to help them avoid the negative consequences of illicit drug use, including overdose and withdrawal, both of which can jeopardize the pregnancy. Without having to worry about illicit drug use, a woman is in a better position to engage in prenatal care.

Reposted with permission from the Harm Reduction Coalition

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Needlesticks On The Beat
An Essay by Former Policewomen Jen “Crash” Earls

As a patrol officer with the Chicago Police Department the unknown was the most dangerous enemy I ever faced. I dealt with it many times in my 8 years on the streets.
But often it wasn’t the unkempt woman slumped over the steering wheel of her car at the red light. It was a well-dressed young woman with seven used needles in her expensive purse, driving a posh Lexus.