Colorado law enforcement officers reverse two opiate overdoses per day, on average
So far this year, law enforcement officers have used a life-saving drug to reverse at least 172 opiate overdoses across the state — a rate of nearly two per day that shows the mounting challenge heroin and prescription drug abuse presents in Colorado.
Heroin-related deaths doubled in Colorado between 2011 and 2015. The amount of heroin seized by police in Colorado increased by more than 1,500 percent in that time. And cases of hepatitis C and babies born into opiate withdrawals also grew.
The numbers were released Thursday as part of a comprehensive report on heroin and opiate addiction in Colorado. At a news conference announcing the report, a collection of health, treatment and law enforcement officials said the research amounted to a “Phase 1” of efforts to deal with the problem. Phase 2, in which officials will take the information learned and create strategies to fight addiction, is underway now.
“We do not want the state of Colorado to experience the same destruction we’ve seen back east and some states in the Midwest,” said Tom Gorman, the director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. “We want to jump ahead of the problem before it gets that bad.”
FILE – This Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 file photo shows a nasal administered dose of Narcan in school nurse Kathleen Gage’s Pilgrim High School office in Warwick, R.I. While efforts to combat the prescription drug epidemic in Virginia appear to be paying off, the state’s emergency rooms are seeing a dramatic spike this year in the number of patients needing treatment for heroin overdoses, state data shows. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
FILE – This Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 file photo shows a nasal administered dose of Narcan in school nurse Kathleen Gage’s Pilgrim High School office in Warwick, R.I. While efforts to combat the prescription drug epidemic in Virginia appear to be paying off, the state’s emergency rooms are seeing a dramatic spike this year in the number of patients needing treatment for heroin overdoses, state data shows. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)