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I live on Long Island, NY.\u00a0 Last year 493 people died on Long Island from opioid and opiate overdose with Fentanyl being the worse drug for deaths.\u00a0 That\u2019s more than were killed in car accidents in one of the most heavily Let get the vocabulary right first.\u00a0 \u201cOpiate\u201d is a word that covers naturally occurring derivatives from the opium plant like Heroin, Morphine and Codeine.\u00a0 They are the original addictive drugs and really what it was all about when the guys came back from Vietnam addicted to Heroin and Opium.\u00a0 Opioids are synthetic versions of the opiates like Oxycontin, Oxycodone, Dilaudid, Percocet, Vicodin, Percodan, and Fentanyl.\u00a0 Both sets are addictive, but the synthetic drugs have become a bigger problem recently and it\u2019s not just what is being sold on the streets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Geisinger-Marworth set me up with a social psychologist named Dr. Joseph Boscarino who who does research in opioids for Geisinger-Marworth.\u00a0 Dr. Boscarino looked through over 2000 electronic record of people who had come into their hospital system for a variety of reasons and have overdosed on opioids.\u00a0 The reason for the opioid use in the first place ranged from recreational use, to open heart surgery, to injuries and pain management.\u00a0 Oxycontin and Percocet caused most of the overdoses.\u00a0 For most of the people in the study the drugs were prescribed!\u00a0\u00a0 It has hit both sexes almost equally and women were represented more in his study.\u00a0 And get this, the average age in the study was 52 years old.\u00a0 Now that breaks stereotype of the young drug addict that we all have.<\/span><\/p>\n A year after the overdose, 9.4 percent didn\u2019t have to worry about anything anymore because they had died.\u00a0 In fact, since the recidivism rate is so strong, meaning more were likely to overdose again, death is a pretty frequent outcome of overdose on opioids, especially multiple overdoses.\u00a0 Evidence in Prince and Michael Jackson cases suggested multiple overdoses on opioid drugs before their final deaths.\u00a0 They were right in the average age range found by Dr. Boscarino, and although Michael Jackson ended his life on Propofol, there was a lot of evidence suggesting opioids were also involved in his final dose.\u00a0 And now it is reaching epidemic proportions.\u00a0 Pretty bleak picture!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0What does this have to do with police?\u00a0 Police officers must deal with this in a couple of ways.\u00a0 The obvious is when on a call or on the street.\u00a0 They need to be aware that it is no longer Heroin that is the major problem, but a whole lot of prescription medication.\u00a0 The source is not necessarily what we used to call a \u201cpusher\u201d but it could be a parent\u2019s medicine cabinet.\u00a0 People like to keep drugs like pain killers around in case they need them.\u00a0 I was given 60 Oxycodone when I had open heart surgery of which I took one.\u00a0 You\u2019d be surprised the number of people and the quality of people wanting to take it off my hands when I was saying I had to go to the precinct to dispose of them.\u00a0 In the education programs officers do in school and in the community, emphasize the need to get rid of drugs, especially pain killers.\u00a0 Have a deposit area in the local precincts and advertise it.<\/span><\/p>\n The second way officers need to be aware is simpler.\u00a0 Police officers, in fact all first responders, tend to be more prone to injury.\u00a0 It is an active job, and as you age, you are less and less able to respond physically and the cumulative effect on your muscles and connective tissue can cause you a pain problem.\u00a0 Your doctor tries to help, and wham you end up addicted.\u00a0 Dr. Boscarino stated some get addicted while others do not and he is looking for a way to test for that.\u00a0 I have had quite a few first responders from my job and many more from around the world that have problems with painkillers they were taking as part of a treatment or pain management.\u00a0 Letters to this blog are astounding with people asking for help.\u00a0 After 9-11, the numbers in this area were also staggering.\u00a0 Awareness doesn\u2019t fix the problem, but it may have some preventative effect.\u00a0 Awareness may get you to sign into a rehab like Geisinger-Marworth before you do some major damage from a prescription medication, and that is always a good thing.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Boscarino suggest that prescribing some dosage of Naloxone with opioid treatment is part of the solution to the problem.\u00a0 Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that helps prevent the misuse of opioids.\u00a0 He also suggests coming up with predictive model so people can know if they have a propensity.\u00a0 It is clear that Gesinger-Marwaorth and Dr. Boscarino have some definite ideas for a problem that is affecting our life right now.\u00a0 It is clear that officers have to become a resource to their friends, their community and themselves when it comes to opioid and opiate use.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Site Administrator:\u00a0 Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please share this article from down below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please join the email list on the top of the sidebar and you can get these sent to your email.\u00a0 Also follow me on Twitter (https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThinBlueMind<\/a>) for other articles and ideas, and YouTube at\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCfjNw0510ipr3bX587IvAHg<\/a> .<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/medicine-bottle-md.png?resize=161%2C225\")
trafficked areas of the country.\u00a0 More than gang related deaths, more than murders in general (although one could argue that a person selling opioids to another is actually committing murder).\u00a0 Yes, 493 people died last year and the trend so far this year suggests we may actually be ready to beat that number. \u00a0\u00a0So, I called Geisinger-Marworth<\/a> Treatment Center, an awesome facility in the woods of Pennsylvania, that I refer almost any police officers from anywhere.\u00a0 I asked them what is the deal with the opioid problem on Long Island and do I have anything to worry about with the nation\u2019s cops.\u00a0 Some of what I found out is a little disturbing.<\/span><\/p>\n