Residents of Saline County dropped off more than 1,500 pounds of medications during the Saturday, April 29 Arkansas Drug Take Back Day, which was called Operation Medicine Cabinet in Benton. Since 2009, the start of Operation Medicine Cabinet, more than 5 tons of prescription medications have been donated to the Benton Police Department for environmentally safe disposal.

“This shows that residents here are passionate in reversing the opioid epidemic in our own communities and across the nation,” Benton Police Chief Kirk Lane said. “Statistics show that prescription drug abusers largely get them from home medicine cabinets. We are also very proud to see many parents bringing their children with them to show the importance of Operation Medicine Cabinet and the Arkansas Drug Take Back Day.”

There were 349 drug overdose deaths in Arkansas in 2014 and that number decreased to 287 drug overdose deaths in 2015, a reduction of 18 percent. In 2016 however, the number increased by 17 percent at 335 drug overdose deaths in Arkansas. Saline County had 13 drug overdose deaths in 2016. *(These charts were developed from autopsied individuals only. The data was generated from autopsy reports containing one of the following words: intox, overdose, toxicity)

More than 143 people in America die each day due to a drug overdose. The rate of overdose deaths involving opioids (heroin and prescription opioids – oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl, and other pain relievers) has increased by 200 percent since 2000.

On an average day in the U.S: more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions are dispensed; 3,900 people initiate nonmedical use of prescription opioids; 580 people initiate heroin use; and 78 people died from opioid-related overdose. A large portion of people who abuse prescription opioids report that they obtained them in the homes of loved ones, including 42 percent of teenagers obtaining prescription medicines from their parent’s medicine cabinet. Also, 64 percent of teenagers (age 12-17) that have abused prescription pain relievers say they got them from friends or relatives. About two-thirds of all prescription drugs (which also include stimulants such as Adderall and depressants like Ativan) illegally obtained are taken from people’s homes and not pharmacies or off the street.

The April 29 Arkansas Drug Take Back Day and Operation Medicine Cabinet were both dedicated to the late William Christian Doerhoff and The William Christian Doerhoff Memorial Foundation. We encourage you to read more about Will Doerhoff and his parents dedication to a program called Speak Up-Speak Out at www.willswork.org.

On April 29 Saline County had drug-take-back collection sites at Walmart in Benton and Bryant, Harvest Foods in Salem and East End, and in Haskell. Together the agencies collected 1,504 pounds of prescription medications.

• Benton Police Department – 1,067 pounds
• Bryant Police Department – 300 pounds
• Haskell Police Department – 51 pounds
• Saline County Sheriff’s Office – 85.2 pounds

Saline County residents have continued to take part in the Operation Medicine Cabinet events, collecting a total of 15,130 pounds since 2009.

Benton Police Department Collection

OMC I: 146 pounds

OMC II: 540 pounds

OMC III: 790 pounds

OMC IV: 483 pounds

OMC V: 630 pounds

OMC VI: 718 pounds

OMC VII: 807 pounds

OMC VIII: 742 pounds

OMC IX: 250 pounds

OMC X: 1,600 pounds

OMC XI: 890 pounds

OMC XII: 1,246 pounds

OMC XIII: 1031 pounds

OMC XIV: 1,504 pounds

The Operation Medicine Cabinet event started in Benton after Russell Goodwin, owner of a local monument company and youth baseball coach, told Benton Police Chief Kirk Lane that he was “tired of making headstones for children” he knew due to the abuse of prescription drugs. Benton officers gathered data that showed there was a problem with abuse and misuse of prescription drugs by youth, including information from the Saline County Coroner’s Office which showed that 30 people died in 2009 as a result of prescription drug abuse.

There was just 146 pounds of prescription medications collected at the first Operation Medicine Cabinet in Benton back in the spring of 2009, but the program and education to the public continued growth. State officials took notice and the program expanded. In 2010, a coalition led by State Drug Director Fran Flener, then Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and both Arkansas districts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office launched an ongoing educational program to encourage everyone to “Monitor, Secure and Dispose” of their prescription medications. The also launched the website ardrugtakeback.org.

On the heels of the success in Arkansas, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced a nationwide prescription drug take back campaign. In May 2016, the DEA announced that 893,498 pounds of prescription medications were collected in all 50 states, with 25,289 pounds collected from Arkansas.

Returning your unwanted medicines to Operation Medicine Cabinet is the safest and most environmentally protective way to dispose of unused medication. Medicines that are flushed or poured down the drain can end up polluting our waters, impacting aquatic species, and contaminating our food and water supplies. Most medicines are not removed by wastewater treatment plants or septic systems. Scientists have found medicines in surface, ground and marine waters as well as soils and sediments in the Pacific Northwest. Even at very low levels, medicines in the environment hurt aquatic life.

Medicines are a special type of hazardous chemical which are not safe in solid w

aste systems and landfills. Drugs can be very toxic for people and wildlife, even in low doses. Just as we do not put used motor oil or leftover paint thinner in the trash, we should not put these extremely potent pharmaceutical chemicals into unsecure curbside trash cans.

If you have prescription medications needing to be disposed of, drop them off in the Benton Police Department’s 24-7 drop box, located at 114 S. East St. For more information about Operation Medicine Cabinet and for a list of locations across the state where medicines can be dropped off, visit ardrugtakeback.orgor call (501) 618-8693.

Arkansas law enforcement agencies collected more than 24,000 pounds of prescription drug medications in a single day. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said that “Arkansans are helping save countless lives” by getting these prescription medications “out of our homes.”

“Studies show that drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. with opioid addictions driving this epidemic,” Rutledge said. “I appreciate all the partnering agencies who helped make this prescription drug take back day a success as we continue to fight this growing threat.”

The 24,483 pounds of prescription medications were collected at 200 locations throughout the entire state as part of the semi-annual Prescription Drug Take Back held on Saturday, April 29. This exceeded the previous collection date (October 2016) by 1,000 pounds. Of the 200 locations in the state, 184 of those locations are from facilities with a permanent 24-hour drop-box. All locations can be easily found at ardrugtakeback.org by left-clicking on the Collection Sites/Events & Dropboxes tab, which includes a Google map and search by Zipcode or Collection Site Name.

“Prescription drug abuse has become the nation’s fastest growing drug epidemic, with almost 4 million Americans addicted prescription painkillers,” said U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Matt Barden. “Unfortunately, these prescription drugs are most often obtained from friends and family, who leave them in home medicine cabinets. The DEA’s and State of Arkansas’s Take Back initiative provides citizens an easy and safe wa

y to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs.”

“I encourage the citizens of Arkansas to please do your part to keep prescription drugs off the streets and help end this national epidemic,” Barden continued.

Benton Police Chief Kirk Lane said that the Arkansas Drug Take Back Day brings education and awareness to communities to utilize the method of “Secure, Monitor, Dispose,” with prescription drugs.

“It is a major tool in reducing deaths from prescription drug abuse and misuse, as we know that 70 percent of prescriptions that are abused come from our homes,” Lane said. “Great partnerships in this effort are a key part of its success, but there is much more work to do. It will take all of us working together to make the difference, and the difference will save lives.”

Rutledge also announced that the early bird registration is now available for the annual Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Summit at ArkansasAG.gov. The summit, which was attended last year by more than 700 law enforcement officers, medical professionals, pharmacists and educators, gives an opportunity to hear from experts regarding prescription drug abuse prevention and treatment. This year the summit will be held in Hot Springs on Nov. 9. A full agenda will be announced at a later date.

“I appreciate the partnership with the Attorney General’s Office, the DEA and other supporters involved in this year’s successful Take Back Initiative,” said FBI Little Rock Field Office Special Agent in Charge Diane Upchurch. “Improper disposal can have a devastating effect on our families and communities, as well as our environment. By taking back 24,000 pounds of prescription drugs, we’ve taken a step to save the lives of innocent children who accidentally use prescription drugs and the lives of those who abuse prescription drugs.”

Semi-annually a Prescription Drug Take Back Day is held with the Arkansas Attorney General’s office, Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Department of Human Services, Arkansas National Guard, Arkansas Rotary Clubs, Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy, DEA, FBI, Office of the State Drug Director and over 130 additional law enforcement and government agencies, community organizations and public health providers.

Event sites are held at various locations across the State but year-round locations are also available and can be found at ARTakeBack.org. The Attorney General’s office also hosts take back events at mobile offices around the State. Since the program began, more than 72 tons of medication have been collected in Arkansas, which is an estimated 201 million individual pills.

Updated by Sarah Frostenson@sfrostenson[email protected] Apr 26, 2017, 8:30am EDT

The opioid epidemic in the US can sometimes seem like a giant game of whack-a-mole for health officials — look away and the epidemic shifts. More people still overdose on prescription painkillers than any other opioid, but heroin and other illicit opioids like fentanyl are now fueling a separate, and perhaps even deadlier, drug epidemic.

And it turns out there are now big differences between age groups when it comes to opioid overdoses. Jay Unick, a professor at the University of Maryland and specialist in the health consequences of heroin use, found a stark divide in his analysis of drug overdose and emergency room data from 2013 and 2014: Americans in their 50s and 60s overwhelmingly overdosed on prescription opioids, while Americans in their 20s and 30s overdosed disproportionately on heroin.

Researchers first observed a shift in how people between the ages of 20 and 35 overdosed on drugs in 2007. The dramatic uptick in the use of heroin has continued since then, claiming more than 12,000 lives in 2015.

Unick, who presented his findings last week at the National RX Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, thinks the age divide is an unintended consequence of states moving to crack down on opioid prescriptions. In other words, restrictions on prescription painkillers are driving younger Americans to use heroin and other opioids on the black market.

“Older people have greater access to pills,” said Unick — and many still have a pathway to obtain opioids legally because of either chronic pain or disability. “But younger people are just starting with heroin and aren’t even making that shift from pills to heroin.” (Heroin-related deaths are increasing for older Americans too — just not nearly as fast.)

Unick is currently working on a paper to publish his findings from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) hospitalization data and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data he analyzed. But at this stage they are preliminary and haven’t been peer-reviewed. You can access the presentation slides he shared with Vox here.

Heroin use varies dramatically in the US. But the problem is most serious in the Northeast and Midwest.

When we talk about the opioid epidemic in the US, much of the conversation centers on West Virginia, Kentucky, and rural Appalachia, where communities have been especially hard hit. In West Virginia, for instance, the drug overdose death rate is nearly three times the national average at 41.5 deaths for every 100,000 people.

But in his analysis of hospitalizations and emergency room visits, Unick found something unexpected — hot spots for heroin abuse were largely concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest. (He used hospitalization and emergency room data to better capture the magnitude of the problem, as drug overdose data only includes people who died.)

As you can see in the chart below, though, that is changing, as regions (excluding the West) have experienced a steady increase in emergency room visits from heroin overdoses since 2011.

To be clear, more people have died from prescription opioids than from heroin. But — and this is key — there isn’t as much regional variation in prescription overdose deaths as there is with heroin deaths. What’s more, as the chart below shows, hospitalizations from prescription painkillers started to decline in all regions of the US as of 2012.

It’s just another piece of evidence that the opioid epidemic is changing. And other data shows that increasingly, heroin and fentanyl are emerging as deadly drivers of the epidemic.

For the first time in 2015, heroin killed more people than prescription painkillers (even though a significant number of people still died from prescription opioids).

One thing that is apparent is the recent increase of fentanyl and heroin use has already devastated parts of the US, and states like Ohio are in the grips of a full-blown heroin crisis. As you can see in the chart below, Ohio has double the heroin overdose rate of its neighboring states.

And Unick fears states’ response of clamping down on pills won’t be enough to stem the crisis. “We’re going to get stuck if we don’t increase access to treatment,” he said. “A doctor can prescribe you hydrocodone but can’t prescribe [treatment] drugs like naloxone because of stigma. We can prescribe the drugs that kill you but not the drugs that save you.”

Studies have found naloxone to be effective in reducing the risk of opioid overdose. But as Vox’s German Lopez reported, only 45 states (plus Washington, DC) have laws that increase access to naloxone — and even then, the level of protection and access under the law can vary dramatically from state to state.

(CNN): Experts say the United States is in the throes of an opioid abuse epidemic, causing 91 overdose deaths each day. Yet the total number of opioid-related deaths may still be underestimated, suggests new research from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“In early spring, the Minnesota Department of Health was notified of an unexplained death: a middle-aged man who died suddenly at home,” said Dr. Victoria Hall, a CDC field officer based in Minnesota. He’d been on long-term opioid therapy for back pain, and his family had worried he might be abusing his medication. The medical examiner assigned to the autopsy tested for and diagnosed both pneumonia and a toxic level of opioids.

“However, on the death certificate, it only listed the pneumonia and made no mention of opioids,” Hall said.

The researchers say it may be difficult to track causes of death, such as this one, within surveillance systems that are based solely on autopsy report codes known as International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition, or ICD-10.

Over half of the deaths involving opioids in Minnesota between 2006 and 2015 had not been captured in the state’s total, said Hall.

“While my research cannot speak to what percent we are underestimating, we know we are missing cases,” Hall said. “It does seem like it is almost an iceberg of an epidemic.”

Hall presented her findings Monday at the annual Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference, which showcased recent CDC investigations. CDC’s “disease detectives’ support over 10

0 field investigations each year in the US and worldwide.

Rural and urban, men and women

Researchers led by Hall examined death records within the Minnesota Department of Health’s Unexplained Death surveillance system, called UNEX, for 2006 through 2015.

The CDC started the system in 1995 in many states, but Minnesota is the only one to maintain it.

The system was developed to “constantly be on the lookout for emerging diseases,” especially infectious diseases, explained Hall. It identifies cases in which there’s no clear explanation for death so more testing can be performed.

Because research has showed that opioid users are at increased risk of pneumonia, Hall and her colleagues searched for pneumonia as well as other infectious disease deaths among Minnesota residents over the age of 12 to see whether opioids might be involved and found in postmortem toxicology screenings.

Among the 1,676 deaths that fit the researchers’ criteria, 59 (or 3.5%) showed evidence of opioid use. Those 59 deaths had not been picked up by the state’s opioid surveillance system because they lacked the proper ICD-10 code. And, among these 59 deaths, 22 had involved toxic levels of opioids.

The deceased ranged in age from 16 to 82, with a median age of 43, and 53% were female. Hall said the demographics of cases caught in the UNEX system were very similar to those captured in the state overdose system, with adults of all ages and ethnicities, both rural and urban.

“Opioids don’t discriminate,” Hall said.

Pneumonia was found in 32 of the 59 deaths. Deaths involving infectious disease like pneumonia can be complicated if you have opioids in your system, explained Hall.

“Opioids at therapeutic or higher than therapeutic levels can impact our immune system,” she said. “It actually impacts your macrophages — so that’s one of your main immune cells that’s going to help fight off infections — and it kind of dampens them down. It also dampens down your antibody response.”

The sedative action of opioids also affects mechanical aspects of breathing.

“When you take an opioid and it makes you breathe more shallow and breathe slower and less likely to cough, it’s a lot more likely things can settle in your lungs,” Hall said.

Among the 32 pneumonia cases, nine of the deceased had a history of drug abuse, six had chronic pain, and one was taking methadone.

“Over half the cases that we found that were toxic or lethal were not counted in the system,” Hall said.

Written by Shawn Radcliffe | Published on April 20, 2017

By Matthew Dean

Published April 13, 2017

Maumelle, AR – Scott and Shannon Doerhoff describe their son Will as someone who never met a stranger.

Sitting inside of their home, in a picturesque suburban neighborhood just outside of Little Rock, the two exchanged fond memories of their first-born, highlighting his comforting way with people.

“He always smiled,” said Scott Doerhoff. “They instantly knew that he was someone that they could approach and be comfortable with without ever saying a word, because he always had that smile on his face.”

But in the nation’s battle with opioid addiction, Will Doerhoff is now a statistic – another life lost to a heroin overdose.

Will began his path to addiction as a freshman at the University of Arkansas after being introduced to the prescription stimulant Adderall, according to his parents.

During his second semester, casual Adderall abuse with fraternity brothers led to painkillers and harder methods of consumption. And, as Will’s father recalled, it is at that time when the family began noticing changes in their son, who, at the time, was a teenager.

“He was struggling,” said Scott Doerhoff. “We could tell from just the tone of conversations.”

Deepening his addiction, Will began purchasing his poison online. By the end of the year, he was hooked.

“They would crush the pills up and smoke them or they would crush the pills up and inject them,” said Scott Doerhoff. “He had all of the skills when he came home.”

Will’s problem came to a head in the summer of 2015.

Early one July morning, Will’s mother found him unconscious in his bedroom, barely clinging to life.

“He was agonal breathing,” said Shannon Doerhoff. “At that point, I didn’t know. I knew he was in respiratory distress, but I didn’t know what was happening.”

Shortly after paramedics arrived, the family realized the severity of Will’s addiction. Lying near him on his bed was a piece of tinfoil, a straw, and a substance that was later determined to be heroin.

The budding lawyer survived the overdose and spent the next year recovering. He began a new life in Monroe, Louisiana, got engaged, and was preparing to attend a local college.

But in the fall of 2016, Will relapsed. And after failing to show up for work one day in October, the Doerhoffs were met with the phone call that no parent ever wants to receive.

“You knew,” said Scott Doerhoff while fighting back tears. “It’s not really a pain that you feel. It’s like you don’t even know how to exist at that moment because everything that you’d ever done in your entire life, the entire meaning of your life, really, which is to protect your children, had just been taken from you.”

Will died on Oct. 14, 2016 at age 20.

The Dark Web

Shortly after his passing, Scott and Shannon learned of how their son obtained his fatal dose of heroin – through a purchase on the so-called dark web. Will’s parents said that he was able to simply sit down at his computer and order the substance, unbeknownst to law enforcement or to those who delivered it to him.

“Three days later it was mailed to a post office box,” said Scott Doerhoff.

In a startling trend that is sweeping the nation, drug users are turning to that hidden swath of cyberspace to feed their addictions, according to conversations that Fox News had with numerous local, state, and federal law enforcement officials in at least six different states.

Specific to the opioid epidemic, Fox News is told that the dark web phenomenon is like adding gasoline to a wildfire.

Not indexed by search engines like Google or Bing, the dark web’s contents cannot be traced back to any one person, allowing individuals to carry out illegal activities and trade illicit goods anonymously.

“Both the seller and the buyer can remain anonymous,” said Captain Charles Cohen, the head of the Indiana State Police’s Intelligence and Investigative Technologies division.

The renowned law enforcement technologist likens criminal investigations that reach into the dark web to playing a game of digital whack-a-mole.

“We’re seeing, not just heroin, but other opioids – ranging from fentanyl to Carfentanil, Opana, and others – that are being shipped with great regularity; with the purchase happening in the dark web, the money transactions happen with a crypto-currency, and the shipment is being concealed,” said Cohen. “It makes it increasingly difficult for us to do those investigations.”

If the dark web and crypto-currencies sound like they may be out of reach for the unsophisticated Internet user, think again. Simply visiting a website and downloading free software is more than half the battle.

Popular add-ons like Tor and I2P allow users to mask their identities by automatically tapping their machines into a maze of servers planted all over the world, scrambling their true IP addresses in the process.

Arguably the most popular crypto-currency in the world is Bitcoin, which trades freely over the Internet. Most any user can transfer cash for Bitcoin by simply setting up a digital wallet through any number of online exchanges.

Not all who flock to the dark web or use crypto-currencies do so for nefarious purposes, but a 2016 King’s College London study of over 5,000 dark web sites found that more than half of those forums hosted content that was criminal in nature.

‘Buy Now’

Alongside Cohen and the Indiana State Police, Fox News saw firsthand just how simple a dark web drug deal actually is.

The search for a reputable dark web marketplace took less than five minutes. Using anonymizing software, Cohen then located the marketplace on the dark web.

Among the illegal site’s offerings were a variety of prescription opiates, marijuana, syringes, and a heroin “starter kit” that was listed for .021 Bitcoins with a “buy now” tab located beside it.

Cohen, who is all too familiar with the illicit items of this dark marketplace and the thousands of others that are estimated to exist, reminded the Fox News crew standing beside him that he was doing this all completely anonymously. He clicked the “buy now” tab next to the heroin kit and directed the website to an empty Bitcoin wallet that he had set up minutes before.

“I give them that, they debit it, and, in theory, I’m going to get my heroin in the mail,” said Cohen.

The narcotics are often sent to the consumer in innocuous objects, under the nose of shipping companies, the U.S. Postal Service, and law enforcement. Cohen said that he’s seen cases in Indiana where narcotics were shipped in everyday objects, ranging from videogames to computers to children’s toys.

“I can continue to live this lifestyle, but nobody will know,” said Douglas Carter, Indiana State Police superintendent. “But the person from some global point around the world doesn’t care about ‘John Jones’ living in rural Indiana, do they? All they care about is the Bitcoin transaction and getting paid for what they do. And they leave the incredible carnage all over America.”

Carter, who oversees the statewide police force, said that the broad opioid epidemic has washed over Indiana, impacting all 92 counties.

‘There are 144 Will Doerhoffs a day’

While there is no simple solution to the overall problem or its nexus to the dark web, law enforcement leaders, from federal agencies all the way to local police departments, agree that curbing the epidemic begins with educating Americans about the dangers of prescription pill abuse.

Officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration note that four out of every five heroin users begin with prescription pills.

“There are 144 Will Doerhoffs a day,” said Matthew Barden, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA’s Little Rock field office. “Prescription medication abuse and the heroin abuse in this country knows no neighborhood, no sex, no creed, no color, no race, no wealth status; it knows nothing except for the fact that it wants to hook you.”

For their part, Scott and Shannon Doerhoff are raising awareness. To honor their son, they started the William Christian Doerhoff foundation and are sharing Will’s story in the hopes that it will save lives.

“Death is final. And our baby is no longer with us,” said Shannon Doerhoff. “But his message and his story is; and that’s what we want to do. We want to be able to speak up, and speak out, and share. And the more people know, the more lives that are saved.”

Matthew Dean is Fox News Channel’s Department of Justice & Federal Law Enforcement producer. Follow him on Twitter @MattFirewall.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a bill into law on Tuesday, April 11 which strengthens the monitoring of prescription medications. After the signing, Senate Bill 339 became Arkansas Act 820, which means prescribers of prescription medications are no longer just encouraged to monitor those prescriptions, it is now their legal duty.

John Kirtley, executive director of the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy, said that the “Incredible abundance of opioids like Hydrocodone and Oxycodone in Arkansas paired with the mistaken belief that prescription drugs are safe and are not addictive has created an unfortunate prescription drug abuse epidemic in this state.”

“States which have mandatory requirements for prescribers to check their Prescription Drug Monitoring Program have shown a 25 percent decrease in deaths and emergency room visits,” said Benton Police Chief Kirk Lane. “These proven numbers, will be of great benefit to those struggling with this type of addiction along with their families. The law is not aimed to deprive anyone of needed medications, but is directed at prescribers to make better prescribing decisions based on history.”

Scott Doerhoff of Willswork.org and the Speak Up-Speak Out Program added, “This law will better ensure that the opiate supply available in society at any given time will have been measured and directed toward the intended purpose – versus unknowingly prescribed in abundance to a degree of the risk the drugs will be abused or in the hands of unintended individuals.”

Act 820 specifically states that, “A prescriber shall check the information in the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program when prescribing: an opioid from Schedule II or S

chedule III for every time prescribing the medication to a patient; and a benzodiazepine medication for the first timeprescribing the medication to a patient.”

The state law further mandates that a practitioners licensing board will also require the practitioners to check the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program before prescribing opioids or benzodiazepine (to first time patients). There are a few exceptions written in Act 820, including before and during surgery, recovery from surgery while the patient is in a healthcare facility, hospice patients, nursing home patients, or in emergency situations.

The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program was established in 2011 which states, “Arkansas law requires that each dispenser shall submit, by electronic means, information regarding each prescription dispensed for a controlled substance. Each time a controlled substance is dispensed to an individual, the dispenser shall submit the information required by Arkansas law to the central repository weekly for the previous week, Sunday through Saturday.”

In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids, which is more than enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills, according to the CDC. Drug overdose deaths involving heroin continued to climb sharply, with heroin overdoses more than tripling in 4 years.

In Arkansas, 1,067 people have died from a drug overdose in a 3-year span (319 in 2013, 356 in 2014, and 392 in 2015). Arkansas is also in the top 20 percent of states that prescribe the most painkillers per capita.

“This epidemic can be turned around if we all accept our responsibilities in this tragic and growing deadly epidemic, and work together collectively to make the difference,” Lane said. “Using the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to it’s potential, improving prescribing habits, Prescription Drug Takeback programs and the Naloxone programs are tools that will turn the tide, if we will just accept them and use them as they were designed.”

For more information about the national opioid epidemic (as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and how to properly secure and to find a location to dispose of prescription medications, please visit ardrugtakeback.org.

By Patrick Reed | 2/22/17 5:00 AM

For Carl Varney in Greenup County, addiction began with marijuana and alcohol. Then he got in a car wreck in his mid-twenties and was prescribed opioid pain medication. “I already had an addiction in my life, and so for these to come in, a highly addictive substance, it took no time at all before I liked them.”

On the other side of the commonwealth in Paducah, Matt Lacefield was just a teenager when he began using opioids. “I really liked anything. Because I was young – 12, 13 years old when I really started using. OxyContin was my big thing when I was 13 years old,” he says. “It wasn’t until I got to 22 years old, I hit the bottom finally. I either had to change or something was going to change me, I knew it. It was no longer me saying it, it was just a fact.”

These young men are among the thousands of Kentuckians who have struggled with opioid use disorder over the past quarter-century. There are few, if any, people in the commonwealth who have not been affected by the opioid crisis. Since the 1990s, the crisis has grown alongside a national epidemic that claimed over 30,000 lives in 2015. Among the hardest hit states, Kentucky has also been a national leader in finding solutions to curb the epidemic.

Carl and Matt are currently in long-term recovery, each helped through different programs. Their stories are part of Journey to Recovery, a one-hour KET documentary that takes an in-depth look at the epidemic in Kentucky. Featuring interviews with national experts on opioids as well as Kentuckians on the front lines of the crisis, Journey to Recoveryexplains addiction as a brain disease and explores a variety of successful treatment and recovery programs in the state. The film is part of KET’s ongoing Inside Opioid Addiction initiative, funded in part by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

Opioid Use Disorder: A Disease of the Brain
Opioids – whether prescription painkillers like oxycodone or hydrocodone, street drugs like heroin, or the newer, potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl – affect brain function in significant ways. Once in the bloodstream, an opioid travels to the brain and binds to widely distributed opioid receptors. When activated, these receptors release dopamine, the neurotransmitter that, among other things, regulates feelings of pleasure and euphoria.

The intense high associated with opioid use does not last, however. “With continued use, you get less dopamine release so the body gets used to it, it tries to adapt,” said Dr. Michelle Lofwall, a psychiatrist at the University of Kentucky. As the release diminishes, cravings for the drug increase and override a person’s rational decision making.

“The changes in the brain that are caused with repeated administration of these drugs have basically hijacked the circuitry into believing that this is a state of deprivation that, if not solved, will not allow you to survive,” said Dr. Nora Volklow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“Addiction is clearly a disease,” said Dr. Stephen Kronenberg, director of the Renew Recovery Clinic in Georgetown. “It affects parts of the brain responsible for impulse control, motivation, and memory.” People addicted to opioids rarely can quit without help, and in recent years, more treatment and counseling options have become available across Kentucky to reach the same goal of recovery.

The Components of Successful Drug Treatment
In Clay County, Chad’s Hope offers an abstinence-only, faith-based counseling model for those seeking treatment for opioid use disorder. Carl Varney, whose drug abuse eventually brought him into the Greenup County court system, was admitted to Chad’s Hope and underwent the year-long rehabilitation program. The program’s courses in job and life skills training and its emphasis on accountability and Christian values changed his life.

“You have to give up, you have to surrender and let somebody help you,” he said. “Because you just can’t do it on your own, somebody has got to help you and that’s what treatment is all about.”

In Paducah, Matt Lacefield was admitted into another abstinence-based program, Centerpoint Recovery Center for Men. It adopts the 12-step program popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous, but does not explicitly promote Christian-oriented recovery. Matt is now a peer mentor who, along with Capt. Anthony Copeland of the Paducah Police Department and Dr. Patrick Withrow, conducts outreach into high schools to educate young people about opioid use disorder.

“A little over two years ago, I never could have dreamed of all of this,” Matt said. “I never could have dreamed I’d be the guy going to school. I’ve got my own vehicle, got my own apartment, got a girlfriend who loves me.”

“For me, the great miracle in this country is the 12-step programs,” said Dr. Robert DuPont, the first director of the National Institute for Drug Abuse in the 1970s. “Treatment is expensive; you’ve got government and insurance and all of those things, but recovery is free. You go to meetings and you work the program, and it makes a tremendous difference.”

Abstinence-based treatment models have worked for Carl and Matt, but others in the throes of opioid addiction struggle in that setting. Dr. Mark Jorrisch, medical director at the MORE Center in Louisville, supervises a clinic that provides medication-assisted treatment to patients. “When you look at the literature and the science, particularly with opioid use disorders – and I continue to look at opiates as just a different type of substance than these other drugs of addiction – it’s a very difficult problem and patients respond better in my estimation to the medications.”

The MORE Center provides a methadone-based treatment model, and other medication-based facilities in the state, such as Georgetown’s Renew Recovery, operated by Dr. Kronenberg, offer buprenorphine-based models. These programs do far more than just swap one form of opioid for another; they closely monitor patients and couple the drug treatment with a counseling program that strives to achieve immediate harm reduction as well as long-term recovery.

“I didn’t even smoke a cigarette before I turned 18 so I started later than a lot of people,” said Kyle, who visits the MORE Clinic in Louisville. “It started with your college partying. Opiates for me were definitely the drug of choice. It got to the point where I realized that I had to do something or I was going to end up killing myself from an overdose.”

Kyle comes into the MORE Center every day for treatment and believes that it has the right combination of stability, support, and assistance that he needs.

“I think people need to know that this might not be for everybody, but this is something that is saving lives and it has saved my life,” he said. “I can say that with a great measure of confidence. The methadone is not a magic medicine – it’s everything else that comes with it.”

Rethinking the Role of the Criminal Justice System 
“If Kentucky was a country, it would have one of the highest levels of incarceration in the world,” said Lawrence County District Judge John Holbrook. “So we are spending a fortune on incarcerating people especially who are what I would call the ‘but for’ test – that’s what we were taught in law school, but for the fact that they’re an addict, they would not be in the criminal justice system.”

The drug court system was established in 1989 and provides an alternative to incarceration for persons whose crimes are a direct result of their drug addiction.

“Drug courts are really a combination of compassionate, competent addiction treatment and common sense accountability,” said Terrence Walton, chief operating officer of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. “It works by including treatment providers and recovery support specialists who actually treat the real issues that underlie the criminal behavior. Some people see it as being soft on crime, but it’s really being smart on the issues that underlie crime.”

Most drug courts in Kentucky do not include medication-assisted treatment, but the Lawrence County drug court overseen by Judge Holbrook does. He supports medication-assisted treatment while acknowledging its critics, saying that he’s seen it give drug court enrollees the initial stability they need in order to move forward, complete their treatment program, and become fully rehabilitated and drug-free.

Many people convicted of drug-related crimes in Kentucky are not candidates for drug courts, and must serve time. Several prisons around the state are adopting innovative, comprehensive programs for drug offenders that shift the criminal justice goalposts toward proactive treatment in order to reduce recidivism. The Kenton County Detention Center is one such facility.

“Incarceration for way too long has just been ‘Let’s incarcerate the person and hope that something happens while they are in there, that they have a change of character that happens in some way because of their consequence,’” said Kenton County Detention Center clinical navigator Michael Greenwell. “Unfortunately, that hasn’t been a successful footprint. The Jail Substance Abuse Program is really a new footprint for the Kenton County area. Its primary goal is to help the addict recover from his addiction.”

The program at the Kenton County Detention Center includes GED classes, counseling based on the 12-step method, and an innovative re-entry program that offers participants who go through detox a shot of Vivitrol, a medication that blocks the recipient’s ability to get high from opioids for 30 days. This is given as the inmates are released, to assist them as they acclimate back into society.

“In a place that is seemingly hopeless and a lot of people would say, ‘I’m at the end of my rope,’ it’s a blessing to be able to offer treatment, valuable quality treatment to putting a stop to that revolving door we all hear about,” said Jason Merrick, director of inmate addiction services at Kenton County Detention Center. “You know bringing hope into a facility that is steel and concrete and letting these men and women know that they are worth it. They deserve help, they deserve treatment and care.”

Stories of Recovery, Empowerment, and Service
“Addiction is one of the most serious, most prevalent, often fatal diseases, and it needs to be managed for a lifetime,” said Dr. Robert DuPont. “Like diabetes is managed for a lifetime, like asthma is managed for a lifetime.”

Across Kentucky, persons committed to fighting the opioid epidemic have created support groups for those seeking recovery that offer a wide scope of services. They come from all walks of life. Some are families, such as the Elswicks in Lexington, who started Voices of Hope with their son Alex, who fought his addiction to opioids and is now a licensed therapist.

In Eastern Kentucky, Camp UNITE arose from the Operation UNITE anti-drug initiative and enlists counselors like Carl Varney to offer emotional support and motivation to the large number of at-risk children in the region who have relatives struggling with opioid use disorder.

Tara Mosely has been in recovery for almost six years. A student at the University of Louisville, she is also director of the Kentucky chapter of Young People in Recovery. This organization assists persons in recovery with a variety of tasks, ranging from applying to colleges to finding housing and helping getting criminal records expunged.

“We don’t see stories of people celebrating nine years of recovery,” Mosely said. “Or people that for the first time are going to college…or they are buying their first home, or they are getting married, or getting ready to start a family. I mean, those are success stories.”

“There is no one road to recovery,” said Van Ingram, executive director of Kentucky’s Office of Drug Control Policy. “We need all the tools at our disposal that we can have. And we need to tailor people’s treatment to the individual, what is most likely to work for them. And if that doesn’t work, we try another modality and see if that works. I think that is our only hope – to have everything we think of available to us, and to use all of it.”

Journey to Recovery is accompanied by a February 2017 town hall hosted by KET’s Renee Shaw, the Inside Opioid Addiction Forum. The forum brought together government agency directors, legislators, health care officials, treatment service administrators, and advocates for recovery to discuss the opioid epidemic in Kentucky and arrive at solutions. https://ket.org/episode/KIOPI+000000

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV)

More than 47,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2014. Arkansas contributes to this statistic, having the 25th highest death rate in the country.

Although Arkansas isn’t high on the country’s watch list for heroin, as prescription drug abuse gets worse, leaders fear heroin abuse could grow.

Albert Speed had a bright future ahead of him.

“He had the second highest PSAT scores at Central High. He wanted to go to Columbia University and major in engineering,” said Gary Speed, who had a son who loved every thing that makes Arkansas “natural,” that’s until an addiction took over.

“He lost his zest for life,” said Speed, “There’s nothing worse in a parent’s life than to find out that their child is dead.”

Albert Speed died at 18-year-old in 2006 to a prescription drug overdose.

“The combination of the Methadone and Xanax essentially shut down his respiratory system, and he suffocated,” said Speed.

Fifteen months before his death, Speed found marijuana in Albert’s car and confiscated it.

“He got really mad at me and decided he was leaving and he left my house, and I realized then I had a real problem,” said Speed.

His son’s anger and lack of enthusiasm were warning signs he was abusing more than just pot.

“Be honest with yourself. Don’t be in denial,” said Speed.

An addiction like Albert’s all too familiar in Arkansas, with 400 overdose deaths a year happening here.

“It tells you we’re having more than 1 a day on average,” said John Kirtley, director of Arkansas’ Pharmaceutical Board.

Kirtley says pill abuse is obvious when they see how many medicines are turned in as part of their Drug Take Back Program.

By Matt Burks

Albert Theodore Speed Enters the World

It was 2 p.m., Nov. 9, 1988. That was the day, the time, that Gary Speed, an up and coming Arkansas lawyer was preparing to see his own flesh and blood be born at Baptist Medical Center. Gary Speed is still an attorney today, but when you talk to him about his son Albert, you walk away with the impression that he would trade it all in just to spend more time with his baby boy.

“Everyone has dreams about what they want to do with their children and I was no different in those regards,” Gary Speed said.

He laughs about how sometime after 2 p.m. on Nov. 9, 1988, his then wife Julie who was not completely through all the dilation stages, was told by a nurse to walk into the bathroom to help speed up the process of child birth. He jokes about how his wife nearly had their child in the bathroom because suddenly little Albert was kicking to get out into the world.

Gary Speed remembers it well, it was 2:52 p.m. when he looked deep into the blue eyes of Albert for the first time. Holding his blonde hair, eight pound-two ounce, 21 and one-fourth inch son in his arms, Gary Speed was ready to protect Albert from the cold parts of the world.

“Albert was just an exceptional kid,” he said. “Any parent would feel so blessed to have him. He was happy, cute, fun loving. He loved to laugh and tell jokes. He had an incredible sense of humor and he was always a hoot, a funny kid who was always cracking jokes.”

Albert and the Teenage Years

By the time Albert Speed was 15 years old he was heavily involved in scouting, both the cub and boy scouts. His father was always there, whether as a den leader, scout master, or just being a parent.  

“Together we did just about everything you can imagine in scouting,” Gary Speed said. “He loved to rock climb, white water rafting, kayaking, he loved to go caving, sailing — we did all those things together. He made it to the rank of life scout. But I never pushed him to become an Eagle Scout (the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America).”

Despite not pushing his son, Gary Speed said Albert had great ambitions in scouting. Gary and Albert Speed didn’t just partake in the local scout meetings, the two spent several vacations together at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. They hiked 80 miles through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which is part of the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico, to reach the peak of the mountain top.

On Gary Speed’s office desk sets a reminder of that time. He proudly displays a picture of Albert standing on a cliff, walking stick in hand reaching towards the sky with a sense of wonderment and happiness stuck on his face. Gary Speed said his son was “long and lean” reaching the height of six-foot, four-inches. Even with the serene mountains and clouds in the great distance showing signs of a storm rolling in behind Albert in the picture, the focus remains on a happy teen.

Gary Speed stares at his son wearing hiking boots, khaki shorts, black short sleeve shirt, raincoat tied around his waist and a white shell necklace. He didn’t know at the time the significance that snapshot of time would effect his life.

“After that last trip to Philmont, at the age of 14, Albert dreamed of being a ranger there and he had plans,” Gary Speed said. “His maturity amazed me.”

Even at Central High School in Little Rock, Gary Speed said his son was accomplishing great things. He said his son had a “beautiful, gorgeous” girlfriend, a lot of friends, and was making good grades.

“(Albert) was very popular and he had the second highest PSAT scores in his class,” Gary Speed said. “He was being looked at for a National Merit finalist. But like a lot of kids his age, Albert really went through adolescent change. He started wanting to do more things on his own.”

At the age of 16, Gary Speed believed his son began experimenting with drugs and that thought proved to be true when he found a some marijuana in Albert’s vehicle.

“But I suspected (Albert) was on other things too because of major personality changes,” he said. “On the night I found the marijuana in his car, I removed it, dispose of it and told his mother about it. Then she told him.”

He added, “When (Albert) found out, he became angry and aggressive. His personality changed.”

Gary Speed said his son use to be known to “challenge you intellectually” but never in an aggressive, physical manner. In a flash, Albert’s caring father said everything changed. The two fought that night and Gary said his normally happy, laughing, jokester son became very physically angry.

“I left at 2 a.m. and walked around Walmart to let (Albert) cool off,” Gary Speed recalls. “When I got back home, I found that he took a 30 pound dumbbell and used it to destroy a safe, and It scared the heck out of me. I realized at that point that I needed help from other adults, because I no longer had influence over my own son.”

A Father Attempts to Help His Distraught Son

Gary Speed said he spoke to the Central High School principal who recommended putting Albert in a drug treatment facility. Albert and his mother, where Albert lived, however, disagreed.

“After that 2 a.m. episode, (Albert) never returned to my house,” Gary Speed said while hiding pain behind his eyes. “He sent me an email and said he would end visitations because he couldn’t live up to my expectations.”

He added, “I never preached to him about drug abuse, but after years of being a scout, he knew where I stood. I also found out that his beautiful girlfriend had broke with (Albert) at least three times because of his drug use. That told me that (Albert) was really addicted. He chose drugs over her.

And also over the previously strong, close relationship with his father.

Fifteen months later, despite attempts to reach his son and convince him he needed to find away to get off drugs, Albert invited a few seniors into his mother’s home. The seniors had their last day of school, but every other student including Albert in his junior year, was to return the next day.

Gary Speed said when Albert’s mother kicked out his friends so that her son could get sleep for school the next day, Albert became angry. Albert grabbed a few things and headed to a friends home to crash for the night.

“(Albert) called his girlfriend, probably around 2 a.m., and said he wasn’t doing well,” Gary Speed said.

The next afternoon — May 26, 2006 — Albert’s friend threw a pillow at him. Albert did not respond. Gary Speed said he learned that after trying to wake Albert, the friend put Albert in the car to rush him to a hospital only to realize that Albert had died.

“It is amazing, but five years later and that day is still fresh in my mind,” Gary Speed said. “The image that comes to my mind, I want to take a rewind button and wish it never happened.”

The autopsy report said Albert Theodore Speed, a young tall seventeen year old boy with a passion for scouting and joking with family and friends, had alcohol and marijuana in his system; but according to the state medical examiner, Albert died from the combination of prescription drugs — methadone and xanax — that was also in his blood stream. The same drugs that routinely show up in Saline Courier articles, whether in a police beat or another tragic loss of a young person. Albert Speed had a lot of potential in life his father said, but “he gave up on his dreams” for a masked life of temporary pleasure in the form of pill.

Life After Loss and Finding Meaning In Tragedy   

Gary Speed looks again at the picture of his son reaching towards the clouds and this Courier reporter hears the voice of Stevie Nicks singing “I’m not a child anymore. I’m tall enough to reach for the stars. I’m old enough to love you from afar” on the Fleetwood Mac song Beautiful Child. Two fathers in an empty room, both missing their children, but sadly only one can return to see laughing smiles and warm hugs.

Gary Speed acknowledges that he would do anything to hold his son once more, but now he pushes on in life to help others. He searched and found meaning to commemorate his son’s life, and death.

“In grieving for a child, you want to find meaning and purpose in the death,” Gary Speed said. “To me it has been speaking to other youth about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.”

He shows facts and figures about prescription drug abuse among the youth right here in Arkansas. Gary Speed quickly prints off copies of fliers for Operation Medicine Cabinet III and a spreadsheet breaking down each prescription medication that caused a death since 2002 in Arkansas. He also prints off information written by the state Drug Director Fran Flener and countless other articles from local, state, and national experts about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

But Gary Speed is also grounded enough to spread his message not through those facts and figures that ultimately may or may not get heard by readers, but through the emotional story of his son. The story of his son and the bond that was broken by experimentation with pills is strong enough to send a message, to change the thoughts of others.

Gary Speed said that two weeks after the loss of his son, he was scheduled to take another 80 mile trek at Philmont.

“At first I thought ‘I can’t go,’ but his mother insisted about (Albert) being cremated, then it donned on me,” he said. “I needed to go to Philmont.”

With a group of new young teenagers — aspiring Boy Scouts, and an urn of Albert’s ashes, Gary Speed hiked the 80 miles to the top of the mountain again where his son once reached for stars. He stood in that same spot his son did just two years prior that now graces Gary Speed’s office in a photo frame.

“We had 18 youth and six adults there and we had a memorial service for Albert,” Gary Speed said. “I told the kids about how Albert stood on top of this mountain and wanted to come back a ranger. But just like everyone, he made bad choices and he took a path of prescription drugs and died. (Albert) gave up his dreams.”

He added, “I encouraged them to not give up on their dreams, and to not be afraid to turn around if they get on the wrong path.”

Today, Gary Speed still practices law and is a prominent figure in the Stephen’s Building on Center Street in downtown Little Rock. From 1984 to 1996, he was a senior member of Rose Law Firm in Little Rock and today he practices law at Speed Law Firm.

Career wise, Gary Speed has made a lot of accomplishments. He said he also hopes to accomplish a lot of great things in life by reaching adults and children about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs, or other type of drugs, can present. It can change a life full of promise to a dark path of deception and even death, he said.

It is why Gary Speed is a proponent of helping events like OMC. Anything he can do to help others from going through the tragedies he met in life, he will do.

Gary Speed, with the help of Carolyn Long and Lance Herring with Jones Television in Springdale, Arkansas have produced a video that is available on www.youtube.com called “We Have A Problem Arkansas!” He encourages everyone to stop on the website and spend 13 minutes viewing the griping documentary.

There are also 2,500 copies made of the video that Gary Speed hopes to pass out at various OMC locations. He said there is still an urgent need to get his message out, including that recently another young man in his Boy Scout Troop 30 in Little Rock lost his life to a prescription drug and heroin overdose.

In response, the other boys in the troop plan to knock on literally thousands of homes in the Heights area of Little Rock and hand out the “We Have A Problem in Arkansas” video.

“We are working to try and educate the kids,” Gary Speed said. “Two deaths in the same (Boy Scout) troop is really devastating. You know, the Central High School principal told me five years ago that the drug problem in schools is not with the poor kids, it is the upper middle class and higher. These aren’t unintelligent kids abusing prescription drugs, they are very smart kids doing this. My son even tutored Calculus.”

He added, “Saline County is very fortunate to have the leadership of Chief Lane and the Saline Courier promoting Operation Medicine Cabinet. I hope we can replicate the success they’ve had with the program in the past in other areas of the state. Benton is really leading the way; and my personal goal is to beat Chief Lane and have Pulaski County get more prescription medicines dropped off than he does there.”