Waterford Mom Wages War on Heroin
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Nov. 21, 2013)
When Jeannie Richard’s 21-year-old son Bryan died of a heroin overdose on Jan. 27, 2011, she knew it was time to act so that other parents would not have to lose their kids to drugs.
“There is a heroin epidemic and not enough people are talking about it,” Richards said. “Something needs to be done.” That’s why she and other parents and loved ones who died due to the drug have started the “Heroin Epidemic in Waterford, MI” Facebook page to help rally people around the cause of stopping drug use in their community.
So far over 1,000 people have joined the group. On Nov. 7 over 40 people came to their first organizational meeting, and another meeting is set for Nov. 21 at 6pm at the 300 Bowl in Waterford.
It’s difficult to understand the scope of the problem. Richard asked for statistics from her local police department and from Oakland County, but two roadblocks have left her frustrated.
The first is that the numbers are not already available in a report. Asking the Medical Examiner’s office to go though each case to tally the cause of death would require about 20 hour’s worth of man hours, thus a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act Request] bill of about $400.
On top of it, the results of such a compilation would not provide a very clear picture of the problem.
“There is a very specific marker for heroin, so unless they die right away from taking it, and the exam is done right away, it is impossible to tell that it is the cause of death,” said Bill Mullan, Media and Communications Officer for Oakland County. “Most drug-related deaths are classified as unknown causes.”
The Waterford Police shared the fact that since 2009 they have had 117 drug-related calls that led to death, however the report does not clarify how many of those were specifically related to heroin.
Richards said she’ll continue to push for better reporting and tracking. “I want to make an impact and I want to be able to measure that impact. How do I do that without statistics and facts so I can know the starting point? Facts are what people will hear and believe this is a problem. Knowledge is power,” she said.
After her son died, Richard learned of at least nine other deaths of young people in Waterford that were likely tied to heroin use. At the Nov. 7 meeting, every participant indicated on a questionnaire that someone they knew had been affected by the drug.
“There were young people at the meeting who told me that heroin was easier to get than marijuana,” Richards said.
The problem is being noticed in other communities as well. A rally is planned for Nov. 22 on the steps of Monroe City Hall by parents who are fed up with the heroin problem in their community. According to a Channel 7 News report, “As of early November 33 people have died from drug overdoses in Monroe this year; 13 of the deaths directly related to heroin. Soon they will surpass last year’s numbers where 40 people died from drug overdoses; fourteen of those deaths directly related to heroin.”
For Bryan, the problem started as a teenager when he began abusing prescription drugs. “He would sometimes take 20 Vicodin at a time just to get high,” Richards said. “He was on my insurance and he’d go to doctors and get prescriptions. But then doctors would realize he was abusing it and he’d go to a different one. When he got off my insurance he would buy the pills on the street and those were five or ten dollars a pill. Heroin was cheaper. You can get heroin for $10.”
Richards said she had no luck getting her son to go into treatment programs, and that there isn’t enough education out there on how to get people help. “With this group I want to push for more prevention programs, and I want to create a support group for people who have children or loved ones who are going through addiction. Parents need support through this too.” She also said that laws need to change so that people who call an ambulance or bring over-dosing people to hospitals are not punished. “So many of these kids die because their friends are afraid to call for help. They get left in hotels rooms or the side of the road because they don’t want to go to jail. We could change the laws to protect them,”Richards said. “There is so much we can do, but my main idea is to bring more awareness to start.”
The PACE Program in Oakland County can provide detox and other services to those struggling with addiction. Find out more at http://www.oakgov.com/commcorr/Pages/program_service/pace.aspx.