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Heroin, fentanyl miss East Mississippi

Meridian Star - 3/12/2017

March 11--Though the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both report increased heroin and fentanyl use in Mississippi, the drugs seem to have largely missed East Mississippi.

"From what I can understand, talking to law enforcement (nearby), we have it around us," Greg Lea, an East Mississippi Drug Task Force Major, said. "But we have not been getting any."

Abuse of heroin and its deadlier cousin, fentanyl, continues to spread across the country, with a recent spike in many southern states, according to the CDC.

Pearl River County Coroner Derek Turnage said investigators he spoke to in the state reported a lot of heroin on the streets. Recently, a young man in Pearl River county, which is in south Mississippi near the state line, died from a heroin overdose.

"Every family in this community has been affected in some way by drugs," Turnage said. "You feel fortunate if your family has not been affected."

In his county, Turnage reported roughly 10 overdose deaths in 2015 and approximately six in 2016.

In Lauderdale County, three people died from overdoses in 2015 and one in 2016, according to the MBN and confirmed by Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler.

Over the Christmas weekend last year, law enforcement officers in Lauderdale County made more than 10 drug arrests, including marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine and spice, a synthetic form of marijuana, but no reported heroin or fentanyl cases.

According to Lea, with the East Mississippi Drug Task Force, meth and marijuana are the two drugs the task force encounters most often, with meth being the biggest problem.

But cuts to a drug grant in 2013, combined with meth's first increase in early 2013, mean that there are not enough agents to investigate the drug's movement. To combat meth, and other illicit drugs, Lea has six agents. And like many law enforcement agencies, that's not enough.

"You always need more manpower on the streets. More resources. More education. On any crime... those are a must," Lea said. "I would love to double (the task force)... we're still feeling the effects of the cuts to the drug grant."

The task force, which covers only Lauderdale County, had almost 500 drug cases in 2016, according to Lea.

The surge in heroin and fentanyl abuse has been contributed to the decrease in prescriptions for opioids, or painkillers. Some doctors, especially in southern states, have been accused of over-prescribing addictive painkillers.

Mississippi has 120 prescriptions per 100 people, making it sixth in the nation, according to the CDC.

Over time, the effectiveness of these painkillers wears off, encouraging some users to increase their dosage. While studies support short-term use of these powerful opioids, doctors remain split on using opioids to treat chronic pain, as seen in a manuscript from the United States National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health.

Some patients, once prescribed these painkillers, have turned to heroin to supplement and ultimately replace their addiction. Three out of four new heroin users report abusing prescription opioids before using heroin, according to the CDC.

Some agencies and schools have started carrying Naloxone and other anti-overdose drugs to combat accidental overdoses. The Drug Enforcement Administration issued a special warning about fentanyl to first responders, advising that the drug can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled and that even low levels of fentanyl could potentially be lethal.

John Dowdy, the director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, said he was in the process of obtaining Naloxone or Narcan for MBN agents to use in case of accidental contact while in the field. Dowdy said the agency was working with the Department of Health to make these two anti-inhibitors available to first responders.

"Putting the law into effect would be extremely smart of the state," Dowdy said.

The East Mississippi Drug Task Force does not carry any anti-overdose drugs and Metro Ambulance has some drugs available to counteract drug effects.

Pharmacists in Mississippi can distribute Naloxone without a prescription as of last year, but no local pharmacies contacted for this story offer Naloxone or Narcan. The Naloxone law, combined with the Good Samaritan Act, aims to curb accidental overdose deaths.

The Good Samaritan Act protects concerned friends or family members who call 911 in the event of an overdose. Those who call will not be prosecuted, even if they themselves are using the drug, have small amounts of the drug or have drug-related paraphernalia, if they call to save a life.

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