Michigan named ‘high intensity drug trafficking area,’ Walberg addresses heroin epidemic

Home City News Michigan named ‘high intensity drug trafficking area,’ Walberg addresses heroin epidemic
Michigan named ‘high intensity drug trafficking area,’ Walberg addresses heroin epidemic

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Drug overdoses are the No. 1 cause of injury-related deaths in the state of Michigan. Hillsdale County alone has seen four deaths due to heroin over the past year, and dozens of overdoses requiring medical attention, according to the Hillsdale Office of the Prosecuting Attorney.

Earlier this month, the Office of National Drug Control Policy added Michigan to its list of High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, according to Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich.  

Walberg recently spoke at the Lenawee Addiction Summit at Sienna Heights University, and is a member of the congressional Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic.

“Combating the heroin and opioid epidemic will take all hands on deck by citizens, treatment providers, law enforcement, the medical community and elected officials at every level,” Walberg wrote in an op-ed published in the Hillsdale Daily News. “Working together, we can offer hope and reverse the trends of addiction.”

There have been 17 heroin-related charges in Hillsdale County in the past year.

“I can say that heroin usage has risen significantly over the past two to three years,” Hillsdale Prosecuting Attorney Neal Brady told the Collegian. “It tends to come here from Jackson.”

Kelly VanBuskirk, Program Director at the Hope House rehabilitation facility in Jonesville, said she has noticed an increase in heroin-related client cases as well.

When she first started at Hope House, only about 25 percent of the cases handled by the organization were heroin related.

“It’s more like 50 percent now,” VanBuskirk said. “If you throw in opiates and prescription drug abuse as well, about 75 percent of the girls and guys in our treatment are opiate-related.”

Heroin is an opioid drug which is synthesized from morphine. A heroin “high” is characterized by a surge of euphoria, followed by alternating wakefulness and drowsiness, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

According to Brady, most heroin-related deaths in the county are caused by heroin mixed with Fentanyl—a prescription narcotic often given to cancer patients. Fentanyl is added to increase volume and potency.  

“Heroin is everywhere around here,” one client said. “People are getting it and cutting it so they can have theirs and passing it on to make more money. And they don’t care if they take somebody’s life if they give them something with Fentanyl cut in it.  The more you do, the more you think you can handle.”

After finishing her rehabilitation at Hope House, the client plans to work with other recovering addicts to help them through the process.

“It is the hardest thing to have to detox from that — literally the hardest,” she said. “The way it makes you feel: you can’t sleep, you throw up. It’s so hard. Many nights these girls and staff have helped me not go out that door.”

Addictions often develop after patients are prescribed opiate-based pain relievers for legitimate reasons in health care facilities. Since heroin is cheaper on the street than other opiate-based prescription pills such as oxycodone, addicts turn to the illegal drug.

“Addicts often start on prescription pills legitimately prescribed,” Brady said. “They get addicted and when cut off they go to the heroin.”  

VanBuskirk’s clients had the same experience.

“Well over 75 percent of heroin use starts with prescription drugs,” VanBuskirk said. “And most of the time, it’s very legitimate: they broke their ankle, they were given narcos, and some light went off in their head.”

“Their thought process is, ‘well, 1 and 2 works, and 3 and 4 is better, so I’m going to take 7 or 8,’” Van Buskirk added. “That’s just how their mind works. It’s not because they’re a bad person.”

The Michigan Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Task Force, chaired by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, has  made recommendations for measures to be taken in the state to better inform patients about measures to be taken for pain management—a common start to opiate addictions.

“From there, we’re looking to better equip doctors to know the full history of a patient before a prescription is made,” Calley told the Collegian.

He added: “you would think that in this day and age, that if you came into an emergency room and you asked for oxycodone, that a doctor could look it up on the system and tell whether or not you got the prescription yesterday in the next town over—but you can’t.”

Such measures at the state level would help immensely with problems VanBuskirk encounters daily.

“I’ve had girls that literally had log books so they knew which doctor they could go to and when it was time for the refill, and they had multiple doctors they would go to,” VanBuskirk said. “It all started out with something legitimate.”

A Narcan opiate antidote has saved many lives from overdose death, according to Brady, but unfortunately, the antidote has had some negative effects.

“The antidote has also emboldened the addict to go for that deadly high while decreasing the chance of death,” Brady wrote. “They actually carry the Narcan with them and tell their friends to revive them if they overdose.”

As county officials work daily to keep the area safe, state, and congressional efforts come together to solve the heroin epidemic in Michigan.  

“There is not a single solution to this epidemic,” Walberg wrote. “We need a multi-pronged approach and a commitment from the community to stay engaged.”