Opioids & Fentanyl
In And Out Of Prison
Just to make a pointed comparison: During the 20 years Hoosiers fought in the Viet Nam War, Indiana lost 983 soldiers. In just the past 10 years, more than 4,000 Hoosiers have died from using opioids (starring the newest killer, Fentanyl). As if Viet Nam wasn't deadly enough, use of opioids over the past 10 years has killed at a rate of more than eight times the death rate in the Viet Nam War.
Those who remember those difficult years also remember the constant body count that was reported daily in the news. Unfortunately, the body count of opioid deaths is rarely in the news. Users are worried. Seventy-eight percent of opioid deaths now are due to fentanyl, which is being cut with other street drugs, often without the user’s knowledge. It only takes a grain to kill you. Even with the good news that overdose deaths in Indiana decreased from 2022 to 2023, opioid use continues to cost Hoosiers to the tune of about $5 billion a year.
Meanwhile, it's no surprise that a good percentage of opioid users are incarcerated. Nationally, 90% of jails and prisons do not treat opioid use disorder, and instead have a policy of forced withdrawal which dramatically increases the risk of a fatal overdose if they go back to drug use after release. Thankfully, the Indiana Department of Correction runs a program called Recovery While Incarcerated (RWI).
Depending on the person's needs, the addicted patient is treated according to his or her needed level of care. Some are in a special area of the prison, others are treated in the general population. Following treatment, patients may continue in AfterCare and attend AA or NA meetings at the facility. In June alone, there were 464 RWI referrals, and 332 new admissions, with most starting at the intensive outpatient level.
At the same time Indiana courts have partnered with the Parole Board, and the Indiana Department of Correction in a program called Purposeful Incarceration that allows the court or board to modify an inmate's sentence upon the person's successful completion of addiction treatment. These are meaningful steps in the right direction, and reflect a genuine and caring response to those who need help.
Meanwhile, China is exporting the raw materials and cartels in Mexico are formulating Fentanyl and other opioid products for sale. The U.S. border doesn't seem to slow the import, and so another son or daughter dies, and another family is wracked with the loss as the death becomes just another statistical data point to add to the thousands in the Indiana opioid body count.
Nancy
Nancy
