{"id":1065,"date":"2014-03-13T12:38:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T16:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=1065"},"modified":"2014-03-13T12:44:05","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T16:44:05","slug":"d-a-releases-chilling-statistics-on-heroin-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=1065","title":{"rendered":"D.A. releases chilling statistics on heroin deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monitoring just one facet of proactive approach to preventing tragedies, he says<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Heroin-Deaths-DA-Hogan-NOPE-2\"<\/a>

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan discusses the launch of a Narcotics Overdose Prevention and Education (NOPE) chapter in Chester County.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/em>Two outcomes are likely for those who become addicted to heroin: They will overdose and die immediately or become addicted and kill themselves slowly, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said this week.<\/p>\n

Responding to the growing epidemic, Hogan released statistics about heroin overdose deaths and use in Chester County, noting that the county is taking a proactive, multi-faceted approach to combatting the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeroin does not discriminate.\u00a0 It is a deadly drug that is abused by young and old, poor and rich, white and black.\u00a0 Nobody is safe,\u201d said Hogan.\u00a0 \u201cThere are students in every high school in Chester County who are using heroin, from Conestoga to Coatesville, from Unionville to Oxford.\u201d<\/p>\n

The District Attorney\u2019s Office and the Chester County Coroner\u2019s Office worked together to create an overview of heroin-related deaths in Chester County, Hogan said.\u00a0 This information has never previously been compiled and centralized for Chester County, he added.\"\"<\/p>\n

\"Screen-Shot-2014-03-12-at-3.27.03-PM\"<\/a>In 2013, 24 overdose deaths occurred in Chester County where the deceased \u2013 14 men and 10 women, ranging in age from 21 to 79 – had heroin in their systems.\u00a0 The racial breakdown was\u00a022 Caucasian, 1 African-American, and 1 Latino.\u00a0 Out of the 24 deaths, 18 deaths involved both heroin and prescription drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen the problems created by heroin and believed it was important to begin to track this information in Chester County,\u201d said Chester County Coroner Dr. Gordon Eck.\u00a0 \u201cOur hope is that, by working together, the Coroner\u2019s Office and the District Attorney\u2019s Office can use these statistics to raise public awareness, spot emerging trends, and save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hogan, who chairs the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) strike force, a joint federal and local law enforcement regional program to combat drugs,\u00a0said officials have learned prescription drug abuse provides a gateway to a heroin overdose:\u00a0 People start by using prescription drugs like Oxycodone, then switch to heroin because it is cheaper and easier to obtain.<\/p>\n

HIDTA intelligence has tracked heroin laced with fentanyl \u2013 a powerful opiate linked to more than 20 overdose deaths in western Pennsylvania \u2013 to suburban Philadelphia, he said, noting that the heroin was stamped \u201cBAD NEWS.\u201d\u00a0 Although no fentanyl-laced heroin has been found yet in Chester County, officials fear it will surface.<\/p>\n

In addition, Hogan said HIDTA intelligence revealed that while Philadelphia is known as a leading source of pure, cheap heroin, 80 percent of non-Philadelphia heroin arrests were for defendants from suburban Philadelphia counties:\u00a0 Bucks, 30 percent; Delaware, 21 percent; Montgomery, 20 percent; and Chester, \u00a09 percent.<\/p>\n

Hogan said many devastated parents in Chester County can attest to heroin\u2019s presence. \u00a0For example, Pam Moules lost her 22-year-old son, Jonathan, this year to a heroin overdose during his winter break from Penn State, telling Hogan: \u201cMany people have told us, \u2018If it can happen in your family, it can happen to any one of our children.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacki Smiro lost her son RJ, a funny, gifted 17-year-old to a prescription drug overdose, Hogan said.\u00a0 \u201cTo us, he was one in a million,\u201d said Smiro.\u00a0 \u201cBut in the year he died, he was 1 in 15,000 people who died from a prescription drug overdose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Rumford, who lost his 23-year-old daughter, Kacie Erin Rumford, to a heroin overdose last year in Kennett Square, channeled his grief into creating Kacie\u2019s Cause, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating such tragedies. Rumford and members of his team have organized town-hall meetings, set up support groups, and disseminated flyers. More information on his effort can be found at www.kaciescause.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hogan said the county is fighting back. \u201cWe have arrested and will continue to crack down on the dealers,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cTogether with Rep. Becky Corbin, we have created a prescription drug drop-box program to stop the cycle that begins with prescription drug abuse.\u00a0 Together with Sen. Dominic Pileggi, we are pursuing Good Samaritan legislation to encourage users to call 9-1-1 if a friend overdoses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hogan said the county is also working with a group of health-care providers to start a Narcotics Overdose Prevention and Education (NOPE) chapter in Chester County.\u00a0\u00a0NOPE is an organization that works to prevent drug abuse through education, family support, and advocacy.<\/p>\n

The NOPE chapter of Chester County is now forming, supported by an initial grant of $5,000 from the Chester County District Attorney\u2019s Office, Hogan said.\u00a0 Anybody who is interested in joining NOPE or getting more information can contact Beth Mingey from Holcomb Behavioral Health System at 484-444-0412.<\/p>\n

Willistown Township Police Chief John Narcise said no neighborhood is immune from the dangers. \u201cEven in a safe community like Willistown, heroin is reaching our schools and neighborhoods and is destroying families,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to be creative in dealing with this problem from education to enforcement…We cannot act like the problem is not coming to Chester County, because it is already here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monitoring just one facet of proactive approach to preventing tragedies, he says By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times Two outcomes are likely for those who become addicted to heroin: They will overdose and die immediately or become addicted and kill themselves slowly, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said this week. Responding to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[842,843,158,407,844,845,846,287,847,848,344],"class_list":["post-1065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-andy-rumford","tag-chester-county-coroner-dr-gordon-eck","tag-chester-county-district-attorney-tom-hogan","tag-chester-county-district-attorneys-office","tag-fentanyl","tag-heroin","tag-high-intensity-drug-trafficking-area-hidta-strike-force","tag-kacies-cause","tag-narcotics-overdose-prevention-and-education-nope","tag-rep-becky-corbin","tag-sen-dominic-pileggi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}