Drug Counselors Overdose at Addiction Facility

[Stuart G]

Source: CNN

CNN) — Two counselors at an addiction facility in southeastern Pennsylvania died after overdosing on opioids, according to the Chester County District Attorney.

"If anybody is wondering how bad the opioid epidemic has become, this case is a frightening example," Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said. "The staff members in charge of supervising recovering addicts succumbed to their own addiction and died of opioid overdoses. Opioids are a monster that is slowly consuming our population." Authorities haven't released the counselors' names.

First responders were called Monday to Freedom Ridge Recovery Lodge in West Brandywine Township, a private group home and halfway house for struggling drug addicts, according to the district attorney's office. Freedom Ridge Recovery Lodge did not return phone calls for comment and, as of Wednesday, its website has been taken offline.

The six recovering addicts who live at Freedom Ridge Lodge found the two live-in counselors in separate rooms, unresponsive, authorities said. The counselors were found with used needles and small baggies for heroin near their bodies, the district attorney's office said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/24/us/drug-counselors-overdose/index.html

---

Horrific !

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa

Seems to be conflating two issues, no? These guys died of smack overdoses. These guys weren't abusing oxycodone. The article says needles and heroin.

The narrative out there is that the problem are those opioid alternatives, (pills). And i also know that some people switch to smack when the pills don't do the trick any longer.

But, the quote from Hogan sounds like that of just another drug warrior.

[keopeli]

2. Exactly my thought. Why not say Heroin Overdose? Why imply it was a prescription opioid? nt

[CountAllVotes]

3. Why?

Reason: To fuel that War on Drugs which makes using these MEDICATIONS a sheer hell for those that require them to remain alive and ambulatory in too many cases which they never bother to mention.

Note the word "medications". This is what these drugs are to me and many others who suffer from chronic pain.

Sad story nonetheless and one that makes you wonder is going on at this "treatment center"!!

[mr_lebowski]

7. Because it's a pointless distinction to make ... it says opioids repeatedly ...

Opium, Codeine, Morphine, Hydrocodone, Fentanyl, Methadone, Oxycodone, Dilaudid, Opana, Demerol, Laudanum, Heroin ... they're all in the exact same family: they all work the same way, and kill pain the same way and cause physical dependence the same way ... and in some cases ... addict you the same way and kill you the same way ... and they're collectively called opioids (some used to be called 'opiates' if derived directly from opium, but that's now an outdated and medically useless differentiation).

If you think their saying 'opioids' implies Rx pain meds rather than Heroin, you're mistaken.

[keopeli]

17. While you are correct about symantics, the vast majority of people do not consider Heroin an opiate.

Language is constantly changing and is distinctive by use and region.

It's not enough to be correct about the definition as you point out. You must also be relevant to usage in order to communicate correctly.

Anyone who reads this article without reading the final paragraph will believe that these counselors died from taking a whole bunch of prescription painkillers. That is the problem.

Republicans are famous for exploiting this language loophole.

Peace

[LeftInTX]

31. When I think of opioids, I think of:

Opium, Morphine, Heroin and Codeine.


I think of Hydrocodone, Methadone, Demerol etc. as "synthetic opioids".

But I get it, as far as substance abuse goes, they are opioids.

The reason I differentiate because allergies to natural opioids are common. For this reason, synthetic opioids are often prescribed. Hydrocodone is used in cough syrups. Demerol used to be the "drug of choice" IV pain med given by hospitals.

[Mosby]

41. Fentynal is synthetic I think

I didnt know demerol was synthetic, I got a shot of that in the ER for a kidney stone and went from extreme pain (the worse I have ever experienced) to nothing in about 30 seconds. The stuff is amazing.

[mr_lebowski]

51. Sadly I can tell you off the top of my head ...

Opiates straight from the poppy: Codeine, Morphine, Thebaine (not an effective analgesic in natural form, more on this later)

Opiates (under the traditional definition, which means derived directly from a fully-natural opiate, with very minimal processing): The aforementioned Codeine & Morphine and Di-Acetyl Morphine (Heroin), and various other drugs with -codeine or -morphine at the end of their name. Note that ApoMorphine is actually an opioid-receptor antagonist, not fun stuff

Semi-Synthetic Opiates/Opioids (these are made with a feedstock from the opium plant. Often thebaine is used to make them these days, but almost all can be made with morphine and/or codeine, that's how they were originally made, but now they often aren't because it's cheaper to make from thebaine ... which is a something of by-product of codeine/morphine extraction and not particularly psycho-active in natural form, so it's a bit cheaper and less tightly controlled): Hydrocodone (Vicodin, Lortab), HydroMorphone(Dilaudid), OxyCodone (Percocet, Oxycontin), OxyMorphone (Opana), Methadone, Buprenorphine (Subutex/Suboxone).

Synthetic Opioids (are not made directly from any product of the opium poppy, but possess the general opioid characteristics of being mu and/or kappa opioid-receptor agonists): Meperidine (Demerol), Fentanyl

Nowadays, they're ALL called 'opioids' by most professionals, as the distinction of being directly derived from opium poppies is basically irrelevant. This is because all 'act upon' neural receptors called our 'opioid receptors' in a manner that's called an 'agonist', i.e. they 'stimulate' the receptors. Opioid ANTagonists, OTOH, are drugs that occupy our receptors but do NOT stimulate them. Naloxone, Naltrexone, and to a small extent, Buprenorphine (a partial agonist w/antagonist properties) ... all these possess the additional 'quality' of having a high binding affinity for the receptors.

[Mosby]

52. What about tramadol?

Just curious, it's what the vet always gives us for pain mgmt.

[SonofDonald]

36. Absolutely correct

I take a heavy opioid, I have since 2012, I would be in a wheelchair without it, if a normal person not used to the medication took one, just one of my pills they would not wake up from sleep.

I've had surgery's since 2012 that have lessened my need for the medication, I am now taking 2/3 of the med per day than I did for four years solid, I was at 180 milligrams per day now at 120.

We are not drug addicts, we don't abuse our medications, but we are dependent on them, we don't have a choice after time passes, it's the nature of the medication.

If we lose the medications that we depend on we are lost, it's not even imaginable what this would do to us beyond pain, dispair, hopelessness and a living nightmare with no end.

I am being helped by a pain clinic and have been since day one, I have a file with the DEA due to my levels of use and type of medication, my clinic overseer is my savior and I do nothing to decrease her trust in me, I went down in amount taken per day by my own hand and my own suggestion.

This is not normal for someone with my pain level, people will stay at high levels with what I have wrong with me, but I knew I could take less, it's been trial and error but I did it.

I don't want my meds taken away or to be looked at as having a problem with them, as I had surgery's my pain level went down so I dropped meds accordingly, it hurt but it can be accomplished if you try.

I hate the fact that I have to take them, but that's not my fault, well, I have been hard on my body I guess.

We hear news that there's an opioid epidemic killing people that shouldn't have them in the first place, or did have them for a short while legally then kept on going afterword because of the high.

I don't get high off of 120 milligrams a day, not a bit, it just takes the pain away and that's all I wanted anyway, every time we hear about them cracking down on pain medications it's makes us cringe, because after they're done with the abusers who do they concentrate on next??????

[kydo]

35. Oh, don't be silly... They were probably white.

White peeps = opioid

Person of Color = heroin

Some how a drug addiction to pills is less bad and the addict is more a pain victim, then if they were shooting up heroin. Only bad poor homeless losers do that. Well in the whacked out white explaining way of things, it makes them feel better.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. probably because it started with prescription pain killers. also, opioid is commonly used for

both prescription drugs + heroine. usually one leading to another.

[Zoonart]

8. this

Addicts move from prescription opioids to heroin because heroin is cheaper and easier to obtain.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Yeah, I Said That

And i get that. I also know that, as an organic chemist, they are all closely related structurally, with modest substitutional differences.

But, i'm nitpicking the statement by the "lawman" Hogan. That sounds like someone who lumps all drugs, all users, and all outcomes as one big identical problem, so he could be the white-hatted drug warrior coming to the rescue.

I think i object to the tone more than anything else.

[RobinA]

48. Hogan

is very at home with that tone. I'm from the area in question and he is no stranger to taking his case to the media and knowing how to get his points across.

[mr_lebowski]

13. People shoot up oxycodone, absolutely ... and I doubt they've had time to analyze the baggies ...

Not many formulations of oxy these days lend themselves to IV use, but the blue instant-release 30mg Oxys aka 'roxies' are cherished for their easy fixability, from what I've gathered. IR Dilaudid's are also extremely easy to prep for IV use. Just because there's 'baggies' and 'needles', that doesn't 100% define 'heroin'.

On top of that, some of the "heroin" on streets these days either has 'added', or has as its only actual active ingredient ... fentanyl. Which is normally an Rx opioid, delivered in time-release patches. It's very dangerous because Fenanyl is like 100x the strength of morphine BY WEIGHT (dosages are in micrograms, not milligrams) and hence requires very precision weighing equipment to 'divvy-up' properly. On top of that, the people adding the fentanyl to the smack ... don't know what the potency of the smack is, nor what it was cut w/before it reached them.

Not that this is all that 'relevant'. The 'line' between Diamorphine (Heroin) and Hydromorphone and Oxycodone and Oxymorphone and Hydrocodone ... is a very, very thin one. It's like trying to make serious distinctions between advil, naproxen and aspirin ...

As for 'what's going on there' ... it's very common for recovering addicts with some 'clean time' ... to become drug counselors. But ... it's common for recovering addicts to relapse. So, you put newly-or-not-even-yet 'recovering' addicts ... around longer-term recovering addicts ... and it's not at all shocking that sometimes ... bad stuff ends up happening.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Yes, Yes, & Yes

I agree with all that, but the article says heroin and Hogan is conflating two different issues. It's Hogan's drug warrior tone i have a problem with. That and the fact that the drug war doesn't actually address any actual problem. It's either intrusive for the vast majority, or a band-aid on a decapitation for those in desperate need.

[mr_lebowski]

30. Yup, agree right back at ya ...

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

33. There is no real heroin left on the west coast, it's all fentanyl based imitations

So chemistry wise it could be an accurate statement.

[obamanut2012]

42. No, it's the same thing: an opiod, and that's how junkies start

Junkies now start on script opiods, including many teenagers, for legit pain issues. They then turn to heroin. HBO has a great doc showing this.

This is primarily a white, usually middle and upper class epidemic.

I live in an area with loads of drug rehab and sober houses, and they are always ODing, and almost all of them are middle class and rich white kids and young adults. They started on pain meds and became junkies.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Philly is the media market for Chester County and this has been a top story here

The counselors were doing this counseling as part of their own recovery efforts and they succumbed (apparently whatever they shot up had fentanyl in it).

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/05/24/counselor-overdose-heroin-deaths/

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/addiction/Heroin-counselors-die-overdose-halfway-house-West-Brandywine.html

And might I provide the irony that Chester County is the wealthiest County in the state of Pennsylvania and was #21 nationally.

[MGKrebs]

9. Wow that's amazing. I grew up there

but left in the 70's and never went back because when the steel mill in my town closed unemployment was about 30%.
Things have changed.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Chester County was mostly rural and then the developments came

and the McMansions and office parks and "ex burbia" was born.

Now with the taxes and the cost (and time) to commute (whether all the way to Philly or to Montgomery County), and a big consolidation of the pharma industry there (and in Montco), it took a lot of folks out.

[mr_lebowski]

25. I've known a good number of users and addicts ... and couple who've OD'd and died ...

And BOTH people that OD'd and died, guess why it happened?

Cause they were clean, for like ... a while ... and didn't realize (which is a bit idiotic, I'd say) how dramatically lower their 'tolerance' would be the first time they 'used' again.

So they (apparently, I wasn't there) thought:

"Oh, hai, I'll just use the amount I did back when I'd been using every day for 2 years straight ... that should give me an AWESOME high, cause I've been clean for 2 months now!"

Then instead, they f-ing DIED. I don't mean to joke but that's just like ... a serious DERP. But that happens A LOT.

The 'tolerance' range for opioids is pretty f-ing extreme, that's a big part of the danger of these drugs.

To put it in perspective, there are people out there that could take a dose of opioids large enough to literally KILL 10 fully-grown (but opioid-naive) adult males ... and proceed to drive to work, and put in their 8 hours, without anyone having a clue they're loaded. This is because there's no practical limit to the bodies tolerance for opioids. As long as you go up slowly enough in your dosing, you can basically go up in your dosing 'infinitely'.

But you can't STOP for a period of time, and expect your tolerance to stay where it was ...before. People not realizing this simple fact ... kills people pretty often.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. The other sad problem is

that there are many people who need these drugs for legitimate medical reasons and when you have people using them "recreationally" (like what happened with pseudoephedrine that ended up being used to make Meth), the drug gets over-restricted for those in the most need.

[mr_lebowski]

32. Oh, I know all about that part too, believe me ...

My wife had to go on the heavy-duty stuff for a while, and the hoops involved can be a PITA. But they CAN be navigated, at least here in AZ.

You know, just have to go to a pain management clinic and follow their strict rules, get pee-tested (which fails on pot, which is ridiculous, but that's another story). Just have to put up w/feeling dehumanized by suspicious doctors in for-profit 'clinics' ... even though you're a totally legit pain patient, never abuse the meds, never call early, never have a bottle mysteriously get 'stolen from the car' ... etc ... then you have to find the pharmacies that reliably have the meds in stock, and who ALSO don't treat you like dicks ... and then hopefully also find a decent insurance plan and company that aren't dicks ... who don't mess w/people too hard over paying for their pain meds ...

That's all ...

[BumRushDaShow]

37. Yup yup and yup.

[snooper2]

6. hmm, website is offline- Wonder if this is one of the fundie places

"Freedom" signaled jesabus when I first saw the name

[woundedkarma]

10. I'm sorry, what?

I hope they're investigating this instead of just passing it off as overdose.

Two drug counselors kill themselves in separate rooms both by overdose with "used needles and small baggies"???

Okay, so it's not terribly unusual for counselors to be recovering addicts and fentanyl laced heroin is apparently very dangerous but I hope the police don't just shrug it off. It probably is what it is and I'm the tragic product of too much law&order and hollywood movies.

[Historic NY]

12. Heroin laced with fentanyl.........your final thrill.

They wanted the public to know about the “Superman” and “danger” stamps on the plastic bags and had one message for other area addicts: Stay away.

“They appear to be heroin laced with fentanyl and are likely to kill anybody who uses them,” Hogan said. “We will not even let law enforcement handle them without special precautions.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/05/24/halfway-house-residents-found-two-men-dead-from-overdoses-their-drug-counselors/


My county has one of the highest death rates in the NY state. Without the introduction of naloxone use by police it would even be higher. 98% of the time when an obituary is published with "died suddenly", its an o/d death. Even with publicity and messages from surviving families, it hasn't stopped. Recently a on-duty cop was found dead at his home, he shot up on lunch hour.


https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/june16/heroin_and_opioids.pdf

http://www.chroniclenewspaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20170501/NEWS01/170509990/Orange-County-gov-tackling-opioid-epidemic

https://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2017/April/06/FallsburgPD_fatal_OD-06Apr17.htm

[flibbitygiblets]

14. And still, TrumperCare would slash badly needed treatment funding

which I guess is less important than getting a "win" at any cost.

[Coventina]

15. Oh great. Another story to hype so that people in pain can't get their meds.

Put me firmly in the "pro-opioid" camp.

I'm sick of this crap.

[mr_lebowski]

18. Naw sounds like it's heroin, addicts, and probably not kids, whereas the stories they hype

tend to be those about 15 year old Billy Quarterback or Susie Cheerleader who, the first time taking an opioid in their life, took a 40mg oxycontin (not realizing that's 8 percocets) and drank 3 beers they got from their little 'friends' who stole from their parents Rx ... then later choked on their vomit in their bed.

This here isn't the kinda of story that get's 'hyped', with the side-effect of making the Feds crack down harder on pharmacies and docs and drug makers.

It's just regular, adult junkies OD'ing on smack. Nothing to worry about ...

[Coventina]

21. Yeah, but notice how the OD is described as "opioids" not "heroin".

[mr_lebowski]

28. I explained this upthread ... 'opioids' is perfectly accurate for describing heroin ...

It's the same class of drug, and hence the same epidemic. People are getting hooked on, and dying from, drugs from the whole opioid family, from vicodin to heroin.

The distinction you're trying to make is the one between 'legally prescribed for legit patients' vs. 'illegally obtained for purpose of getting high'. THOSE ... are clearly two separate things.

Whereas with 'Opioids' and 'Heroin', the latter is a subset of the former.

There may be 'an agenda' to the word choice as you ascribe, but it's 'not necessarily so' ... is all I'm saying.

[obamanut2012]

43. Because heroin is properly an accurately described as an opioid

[mr_lebowski]

16. In the UK you can register as a heroin addict and go get clean needles & Rx Dope in big cities

No fentanyl, no 'cut/unknown additives', no disease-spreading via dirty needles, 100% 'known' dosage level ... there's doctors and nurses ... they gauge how much you've been taking so as to not let you OD, but if you did, they're there with naloxone ...

They also allow you to get a daily dose of methadone at most pharmacies, part of the National Health, free or damn near. No dehumanizing private, for-profit 'methadone clinic' to go stand in line at. I suspect if they've not yet, they'll have buprenorphine aka Suboxone available this way soon as well I'd bet. A much better solution than methadone ... though not as easy to transition to in the short term.

It's time for the US to get 'real' about this shit, start really helping people. And we need to do it for CHEAP, because addicts don't have money, typically. Opioids ARE cheap as hell at manufacturing level, so it should be very possible.

[get the red out]

27. Thank you!

Great post.

[Dopers_Greed]

19. Ironic that the general public is only concerned about addiction epidemics now that it affects white people

When they happen to PoC, it's time to get "tough on crime"

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Boy, You Said It!

I'm quite sick of hearing about every little incident and nobody really addressing that suddenly it's not a "crime" thing because it's Jennifer and Justin who have the problem instead of Shaniqua and Jamal. (Names of people i actually know. Just examples, these folks don't have any drug issues.)
And, as long as they conflate heroin with any other poppy based derivative, it just makes it harder and harder for chronic pain sufferers to get medicines they actually can't live without.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

24. not ironic, just a reflection of the reality that white lives matter more than black lives

to most people.

this is why the very phrase black lives matter, is considered controversion

[WhiskeyGrinder]

26. As long as the morality police strangle evidence-based actions such as harm-reduction through

clean needle programs and shooting up in a safe place, people without the funding, training and emotional capacity to manage the sheer numbers of people who need help will be the ones on the front lines trying to make it stop.

[Progressive_not_dem]

34. Sad to say, this story has misinformation

This story has gone national because of the either outright lie, or, just as bad, the inability of the
DA to hear te truth.

The lie: these young men were NOT COUNSELORS. They were residents of the facility. The younger one, I know for a fact, never had any training in drug abuse counseling, and had, in fact, very recently been back in rehab.

So, Mr Hogan, check with your investigators. Or stop misleading the public. The heroin supply IS bad, and has been tainted by some horrible, deadly additives. And these residents should not have been able to so easily bring drugs and paraphernalia into the facility. But they were not counselors, which seems to be the only reason the media is going nuts over the story.

So stop spreading the lies!

[RobinA]

49. Well, Part Of The Problem

is that these "recovery houses" that spring up everywhere are not necessarily licensed facilities run by professionals. I can't speak for this particular facility, but in Philadelphia and the surrounding area there are many "recovery houses" that are glorified drug houses. In this area, I would be very leary of anyone saying they are at a "recovery house." It is NOT necessarily a treatment facility.

[Stuart G]

39. I found this site on drug addiction.

It answers a lot of questions on drug abuse.

It is the... National Institute on Drug Addiction.
Here is who this is...
What does the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) do?

NIDA is a federal scientific research institute under the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ....NIDA is the largest supporter of the world's research on drug use and addiction...... NIDA-funded scientific research addresses the most fundamental and essential questions about drug use, including tracking emerging drug use trends, understanding how drugs work in the brain and body, developing and testing new drug treatment and prevention approaches, and disseminating findings to the general public, researchers, policymakers, and others.
________________________________________________________________________________________

I never heard of them...but guess who owns this Institute?...taxpayers of the United States of America..It is a federal research institute ...under National Intitue of Health, U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services..The U.S. government...and..........................if you have questions about drug addiction...hit the link, these people do the research, and they have some answers...ALSO;.. this one is not out to make money..it does not want your money...it gets its money from several sources..you can ask it that if you want...
I get the feeling from reading a little, they are really out to understand the problem and help others..


https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/frequently-asked-questions#addicted

[LeftyMom]

40. It's time we stopped using addiction treatments that aren't evidence based.

Obviously nobody's going to get clean and stay clean in a place where the fucking counselors are shooting up.

There are evidence-based methods for getting people off drugs. In this country they're mostly ignored in favor of 28 day rehab stints, 12 step programs and Jesus. Because we don't need experts or evidence or medication. We don't actually treat addiction like a disease, we don't spend addicts to specialized doctors. If you're poor we send you to other addicts in jail or some filthy rehab in the bad part of town and if you're rich we send you to a fancy camp with other addicts and also horses. Neither one works for shit.

[Progressive_not_dem]

44. Again, check for facts

The DA is trying to come up with a new story to replace the mess he made with the Conestoga team/locker room event.

The two young men who died WERE NOT COUNSELORS. The younger one was recently in rehab and then moved in to the facility.

This story is being made bigger than it should be because the DA is shoveling BS and passing out bad/incorrect information.

[LeftyMom]

45. 1. I don't know who you are and you have two posts. Do you have some evidence you can

share or am I supposed to take your word for it?

and

2. I'm not sure what that has to do with my point about evidence based care and medical supervision?

[Progressive_not_dem]

46. Your post says

"Obviously nobody's going to get clean and stay clean in a place where the fucking counselors are shooting up."

So you seem to be basing your point totally on that false "fact".

That's what it has to do with your point.

And there was a time when you had 2 posts as well.

If that's how newcomers are welcomed, well then, you'll never know me. That you can take my word on.

Once we bury our boy, maybe I'll venture back to this welcoming environment.

[LeftyMom]

47. So no evidence? Okay thanks.

[RobinA]

50. I Have No Idea

what the facts are in this case, but let's just say that some people speaking about this case have been known to stretch facts beyond recognition in order to make a situation more dramatic than it really is, the DA is not looking great at the moment because of a situation where he did exactly that and it backfired big time, and recovery houses in this area are often not treatment facilities. Sad for these young men, even sadder if their deaths are being used for political reasons.

We shall see.