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This Week
Opioid addiction survivor awakens lost dreams with golf
July 19, 2017
CRAFTERNOONS IN GOODYEAR
By Scott Schumaker By Scott Shumaker
NEWS .................. 5 Buckeye mayor to chair Maricopa Association of Governments
Avondale resident Moe Moran works as a golf pro at a West Valley course. (West Valley View photo by Tim Sealy)
SPORTS ............ 19 Tolleson coach confident despite losing varsity players
9 DAYS ............. 22 Looking for something to do? Check out the 9 Days a Week calendar
BUSINESS............... . 9 LETTERS.................10 FEATURES ..............11 AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD...16 SPORTS ..................17 OBITUARIES ...........26 CLASSIFIED ............27
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Avondale resident Moe Moran's deep, gravelly voice and New York City accent quickly give away his earlier life on the East Coast. He has a friendly and direct manner, and an easy laugh. Moran, 59, was an officer with the NYPD for 26 years, and after talking with him, you might think he was placed in that role by a central casting department for a police drama. He mentions cop shows on TV when he talks about his law enforcement career. The fictional stories, he said, don’t begin to cover the horrible things he saw as a cop in NYC. He’s seen everything, including 9/11, he said. But Moran said nothing he experienced in his career was as “horrifying” as his 10 days in detoxing from heroin in 2004. Moran said during withdrawal from opioids, everything hurts. “Water hurts your body when it hits it,” he said. He spent most of the time on his bathroom floor, and when he finally emerged, he’d lost 25 to 35 pounds. But he’s regained some of his freedom.
Brandon Reich checks out his competition during Crafternoons at the Goodyear Branch Library. Each workshop features a different craft project that gives kids 6 and older a hands-on creative outlet. See inside for more photographs from the program. (West Valley View photo by Tim Sealy)
Every day, thousands of Arizonans engage in the high-stakes battle for their lives that Moran fought more than a decade ago. In recent years, the number of people addicted to opioids has swelled. Recognizing the upward swing, Gov. Doug Ducey declared opioid addiction a health emergency on June 6. Later that month, the governor’s office issued an executive order to reduce the reporting time of opioid-related medical incidents to 24 hours. The state’s call for “enhanced surveillance” – a tactic usually associated with infectious diseases – speaks to the alarm caused by recent rises in opioid-related overdoses and deaths in Arizona. So far, the new reporting system shows opioid overdose is an active public health crisis. In just the first three weeks of Arizona’s enhanced surveillance, 661 people are suspected of overdosing on opioids and 52 people have died of suspected overdoses. Moran knows the danger posed by
opioids, a class of drugs that includes legal prescription painkillers and illegal drugs like heroin. He began using prescription painkillers while recovering from injuries sustained as a first responder during the 9/11 terror attacks. Moran said he was approaching the World Trade Center when the first tower started to collapse. He was struck by debris and buried under rubble. Moran suffered crushed bones and joints and spent the next 14 months recovering and undergoing physical therapy to learn how to walk again. He was previously a heavy drinker. When he was hospitalized, painkillers became his new drug. By the time he completed physical therapy, he said, he was hooked. In retrospect, it wasn’t hard for Moran to descend into addition in the hospital. “Because I was a hero, I could have whatever I wanted,” Moran
Survivor...continued on page 2