Fall 2024 Lifeline Publication

HAVOC IS HERE. SO IS TREATMENT National opioid crisis real in our area, but there’s a Lifeline

The national news often focuses on the opioid crisis in Appalachia, the East Coast and the West Coast. Sadly, opioids, particularly fentanyl, are not limited to these markets. They have infiltrated much of our country, including Kentucky, because of one simple fact –they’re cheap.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, much cheaper and faster to produce than heroin. It’s easier and more discreet to transport to meet a growing demand. It is mixed into counterfeit opioid pills, mixed with other drugs such as methamphetamine, marijuana and vape/pipe substances, or sold alone as a white powder.

And it’s wreaking havoc in the lives of Kentuckians, including those in western Kentucky.

Drug overdose deaths have increased to historic levels. Overdose deaths in the U.S. totaled 107,543 in 2023. Overdose deaths in Kentucky totaled 2135 in 2022, 1984 in 2023 and 2100 are projected for 2024.

A frequently overlooked problem associated with opiate use disorder is the comorbidity associated with drug use, such as outbreaks of HIV and/or hepatitis C.According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, heroin use increases the risk of being exposed to HIV, viral hepatitis and other infectious diseases through contact with infected blood or body fluids from the sharing of syringes and injection paraphernalia with infected people. Each infected person who injects drugs may infect 20 other people.

These illnesses also are not confined to Appalachia and metropolitan areas, but are occurring across our state. Rural communities in McCracken and throughout western Kentucky counties are disproportionately affected by new HIV and HCV infections, making the area vulnerable to rapid spread of those diseases among people who inject drugs.

I wish I could say that opiate addiction will be defeated, but this problem will never go away. We all must work diligently together to combat the crisis with all spiritual, medical and psychosocial modalities which have proven to be successful.

Lifeline Recovery Center remains committed to this effort with the move of the men’s program to the Ballard County campus and plans for a new women’s campus, both of which increase the number of people who can be served in the long-term residential treatment.

FACT

Addiction to opioids and drug overdose deaths continue to devastate families and communities in the U.S.: 107,000 Americans in 2021, with 2250 from Kentucky. That’s 6 of our Kentucky neighbors every day.