|
 |
Columbus Dispatch
Community forum
brings hundreds to discuss heroin in central Ohio
By Alissa Widman Neese
Wednesday October 12, 2016
Her body craved the addictive, deadly drug so much that it controlled
her every move.
Physically, she was ill without it. Mentally, she was obsessed. No
matter how many times Vanessa Perkins promised herself that she would
stop shooting heroin, she continued to do anything — including sell her
body for money — to get it.
"The first time I tried it, I knew I'd do it the rest of my life,"
Perkins recalled.
"Any pain in your body — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual — all
of that just goes away. Nothing hurts. It's just like you're floating,
you're free, no worries.
"Until later."
Like her relentless feelings of addiction, soon the problems piled up.
Her son was born opiate-addicted. She stole from her friends and
family. She was prostituted by a pimp and eventually arrested. But that
arrest saved her life, she said, because she detoxed while in jail and
was enrolled in a treatment program.
Perkins, 32, shared her story with about 200 people Tuesday night at a
community forum addressing Ohio's heroin epidemic at the Fort Hayes
Metropolitan Education Center Downtown. The public forum followed a
six-day Dispatch series, "Heroin's Hold on Us," which recounted the
many ways that heroin affects every community in central Ohio.
Ultimately, Perkins proved herself wrong about using heroin for the
rest of her life. On Friday, the Grove City resident will celebrate
seven years sober.
"That program helped me become human again," Perkins told the crowd.
"I'm here to help others do the same."
Despite efforts to increase awareness and make more treatment
available, Ohio experienced a record number of overdose deaths due to
opiates last year. Nearly 2,600 people across the state died in 2015
from opiate overdoses — 1,424 of them heroin overdoses.
Just a few weeks ago, a particularly lethal strain of heroin made its
way through central Ohio. The bad batch was linked to dozens of
overdoses in Columbus, Lancaster and Ross County. Six people died.
The heroin crisis isn't unique to Ohio. Every day, 78 people in the
United States die from an opiate overdose — 29 from heroin, according
to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Drug addiction isn't just a bad habit. It's a complicated, chronic
brain disease that requires treatment, according to public-health
officials.
But stigma and misunderstanding make addiction difficult for people to
explain and understand, especially someone who hasn't experienced the
effects of its ruthless grip, said Pickerington resident Heidi Riggs,
who lost her 20-year-old daughter, Marin, to a heroin overdose in 2012.
Before her death, Marin recovered and relapsed multiple times, but few
people knew it.
"Her addiction was our dirty little secret," Riggs said. "I felt, as a
parent, that I had done something wrong. I thought, 'How could my
beautiful daughter, who had so much going for her, become addicted to
heroin? And why can't she just stop?'"
Events such as Tuesday's forum can help educate people and shatter that
stigma, forum panelists said.
"This isn't an easy topic to discuss, but it's an important one,
because it affects so many people," Dispatch Editor Alan Miller said.
Columbus City Schools donated the use of the auditorium where the free
event was held. Its moderator was Mike Thompson, chief content director
of news and public affairs for WOSU Public Media and host of "Columbus
on the Record."
The forum addressed a wide range of topics, including heroin's toll on
families and children, outlets for addiction treatment and new
law-enforcement tactics used to fight the heroin epidemic, including
naloxone, a narcotic-reversing medication that can save a user from an
overdose.
Law officers must be willing to treat addiction like the disease it is,
not a criminal act, Marion Police Lt. B.J. Gruber said.
Other panelists who spoke included Dispatch reporters, representatives
from the courts and individuals spearheading drug-fighting programs,
with a reinforced focus on education and treatment.
"The blame, the shame, the stigma — we need to move beyond that,"
Columbus Health Commissioner Dr. Teresa Long said, prompting applause
from her audience. "We need to look at how to support these people in
treatment, help them into recovery and prevent addiction."
Read this article and watch the video at The Columbus Dispatch
|
|
|
|
