From March 17 to March 20, eight county residents have died from a heroin- or fentanyl-related overdose, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s office. Often, the two drugs are used in conjunction, with fentanyl being used to “cut” heroin. The resulting high comes faster and stronger.
“What happens is that people stop breathing on it,” J.P. Abenstein, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, told NPR last year. “The more narcotic you take, the less your body has an urge to breathe. And it makes sense that a lot of people are overdosing on it because they aren’t sure how much to take.”
The medical examiner’s office warned earlier this year that the fentanyl-related death total for 2015 nearly tripled from 2014, with 89 ruled cases (41 of those cases involving both heroin and fentanyl. Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson has reported that, locally, it’s becoming clear that “fentanyl in pill form is being sold as Oxycodone.” (See photo.)
“This is all the more alarming because this is a much more lethal drug, being dressed up as another popular drug abused by the same population,” Gilson said in a public statement.
The March 23 edition of Scene will feature a longform story on the growing pains of Northeast Ohio drug courts, which present an alternative form of justice — and, ultimately, sobriety — for addicts facing low-level felony charges.
This article appears in Mar 16-22, 2016.
How many detox program Cuyahoga county has?
There’s only two in Cleveland area ! The one is Rosary Hall and you can get in in about a week however the other one takes several weeks . Some places don’t take opiate users as well only alcohol and benzo! There should defiantly be more detox centers !!!
No there is a lot more than two. There is rosary hall stealla mars, st Vincent, harbor light. Those are just the free ones.
Withdrawal from alcohol and benzos requires close medical monitoring and medications to keep you from having seizures, strokes and other life threatening problems. Detoxing and withdrawal from opiates will not kill you ( though it makes you so horribly sick you want to die) so, most insurance will not pay for inpatient detox. Clinically speaking, it is not medically necessary to detox from opiates or cocaine. There are outpatient programs that ARE covered by insurance. Success rates for remission are about the same.
Regardless of the drug, or inpatient or outpatient detox, the long haul requires much more than medical support. The relentless craving for opiates requires much more than detox. The cravings can last for years.
Implanted suboxone is proving very successful at staving off the overwhelming drive to use again, but social support and ongoing counseling are critical to long term success.
It makes no sense to me for dealers to “cut” heroin with fentanyl. Fentanyl is more expensive than heroin. How are all of these dealers getting that much fentanyl, it is prescribed. How are they making money? lol? That is like cutting heroin with oxy 80’s and selling the bags as the same price you usually would. Weird.
fentanyl Is deadly stuff!! I saw what it did to my wife and when they gave it to my mom i stopped it. And they need something different to use for when they put you under for surgery.. Its the devil!