Delaware fears more heroin overdoses

When a spike of heroin overdoses hits a community, more deaths often follow because users want the best high –– and they're willing to take risks to achieve it.

State officials worry this phenomenon will manifest itself in Sussex County following a rash of overdoses over the weekend that left two men dead and more than 20 brought back to life from the overdose-reversing drug, naloxone. Emergency responders scrambled to find the source of the deadly drug, but officials fear there may be more overdoses coming until they find the source.

Delaware State Police are investigating what caused the overdoses and whether they are connected, but no further details have been released. Toxicology reports from the fatalities could also take weeks to receive.

The push for help and treatment may be hard to hear for actively using heroin.

"When you OD on something, it ups the interest," said Sr. Sgt. Allen Herring, with the New Castle County Police Drug Control Squad. Last month, New Castle County witnessed four fatal overdoses in five hours but officials have yet to say what caused the outbreak.

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Officials stressed Monday that treatment is readily available in the state and treatment beds are open. A withdrawal management center run by Connections Community Support Programs currently has a dozen 23-hour assessment beds available. During that evaluation period, health care providers determine the best course of care for an individual. Connections spokesman Adam Taylor said there are an additional 16 inpatient beds for further treatment.

Sussex County residents in need of treatment should contact the withdrawal management center at (302) 786-7800 or go to the facility at 1 East St. in Harrington. The facility, open round the clock, is open to people 18 years or older. Those who need immediate help can call the state 24/7 Crisis Helpline at 1-800-345-6785 in Sussex and Kent counties or 1-800-652-2929 in New Castle County.

Yet the overdoses come as no surprise to those fighting addiction in Sussex County.

"You can take a stone and throw it in any direction and you will hit a dealer," said The Rev. Dan Southern. "It's that bad."

Southern, who serves as the pastor at Stein Highway Church of God in Seaford, helped form a group about six months ago called "BRIDGES," which stands for Bridging Recovery in Delaware – Gathering Essential Supports, and hopes to create a network of community navigators to help those in recovery. Because Sussex County is largely rural on its west side, Southern said many people returning to the community after rehab or other treatment don't know where to go for help.

They also don't know what resources are available to them, Southern said.

"We really need to make a system change because what we're doing is not working," Southern said. "We need more treatment facilities in Sussex County. We just don't have everything we need to deal with this."

Roger Nebel, a volunteer at the ACE Peer Resource Center in Seaford, said the combination of the economy, rural landscape and lack of resources has created a terrible environment that keeps heroin users trapped in the cycle of addiction.

“I know one guy that gets up at 4 a.m., gets his methadone, makes his way to work as a chicken picker, works until he’s dead to the world, makes his way back home and gets up at 4 a.m. to do it again,” Nebel said. “They don’t make it easy for anybody.”

Locals are attributing the deaths to what is considered a bad batch of heroin circulating throughout Sussex County, said Jim Martin, director of the ACE Peer Resource Centers in Georgetown and Seaford. These centers serve as places for users in recovery to get better direction on how to turn around their lives and get access to jobs and housing.

"We're a welcome center to people that are the traveling strangers," Martin said. "A lot of times when you're involved in bad things, you feel like the world makes you invisible. But we want to say we see you and we care about you."

Martin said he is not surprised by the outbreak, which appears to be traveling through the Mid-Atlantic region. Maryland reported three fatal overdoses in Anne Arundel County (which encompasses Annapolis) and Frederick County (near the border of West Virginia) that could be linked to carfentanil, a synthetic opioid that is 10,000 times deadlier than morphine and 100 times deadlier than fentanyl.

Health officials consider fentanyl, which can be passed off as heroin because of its white powdery appearance, to be 50 times more powerful than heroin.

“Carfentanil is the latest in a string of deadly drugs that have exacted a horrible toll on residents in Maryland and across the country,” said Maryland Department of Health and Mental Secretary Dennis R. Schrader.

An overdose prayer walk to raise awareness for this weekend's deaths will also be held at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday at St. Luke's Parrish Hall at 202 North Street in Seaford.

This weekend's fatalities included a man believed to be in his 40s, and another man believed to be in his 50s. Their names and ages have not been released by DHSS, pending notification of next of kin.

The obituaries have sadly become normal due to the high prevalence of drugs in Sussex County, Nebel said.

“It’s a shame,” he said. “I’d say we see spikes like these every two or three years.”

The state's 911/Good Samaritan Law grants immunity to those calling 911 to report an overdose from arrest for low-level drug crimes, even if they have been using the drug as well. Officials hope this will encourage those using to report overdoses quickly in attempts to save lives.

But those on the front lines like Beverly Hitch, manager at the Seaford ACE Center, worry that without funding, nothing will change.

“In this area, I don’t see things improving,” she said. “Not without funding, not without addressing our mental health issues and not without everyone with power to make decisions realizing this is a problem and doing something about it.”

The overdoses brought urgency Monday to local officials announcing a statewide Drug Take-Back Day slated for Saturday. The hope is that people will clear out their medicine cabinets and safely get rid of prescription medication before it falls into the hands of those with addiction.

About 80 percent of new heroin users credit legally prescribed medication as how they fell into addiction, according to state officials.

"I don't think I was aware of how many young people end up getting access to or addicted to prescription medication by visiting and pilfering from the bathroom closets of their friends and neighbors," said U.S. Sen. Chris Coons Monday.

Last year, Delaware reported 308 fatal drug overdoses ranging in age from as young as 17 years old to 72 years old, said Dr. Kara Odom Walker, secretary for the state Delaware Health and Social Services. Their stories made their way across Walker's desk in overdose death investigation reports and detailed how quickly the disease of addiction takes hold.

In one report, a 19-year-old woman was found at home overdosed with heroin packets in her pockets and on her desk, Walker said. A note in her journal described her relationship to addiction.

"Opiates are my favorite food group," it read.

Walker paused for a moment before reflecting on all the lost potential in this young woman's life. The state has a duty to do more to help those people, she said.

"Addiction is a disease," Walker said. "But people do live and thrive and recover."

Reporter Gino Fanelli contributed to this story.

​Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.

Have old prescription medication? Turn it in from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the following locations:

New Castle County

• Daniel S. Frawley Stadium, 801 Shipyard Drive, Wilmington, DE 19801
• Delaware City Police Department, 407 Clinton St., Delaware City, DE 19706
• New Castle County Airport, 151 N. Dupont Hwy., New Castle, DE 19720
• Paul J. Sweeney Public Safety Building, 3601 N. DuPont Hwy., New Castle, DE 19720
• Wilmington VA Medical Center, 1601 Kirkwood Hwy., Wilmington, DE 19805
• Shipley Manor Nursing Home, 2723 Shipley Road, Wilmington, DE 19810
• Christiana Care Surgical Center, 4755 Ogletown Stanton Road., Newark, DE 19718
• University of Delaware – Laurel Hall, 282 The Green, Newark, DE 19716
• Delaware State Police Troop 2, 100 La Grange Ave., Newark, DE 19702
• Newark Police Department, 220 South Main St., Newark, DE 19711 (permanent collection site)
• Walgreens, 1120 Pulaski Hwy., Bear, DE 19701  (permanent collection site)
• Walgreen's, 6317 Limestone Road, Hockessin, DE 19707 (permanent collection site)
• Walgreen's, 2119 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803 (permanent collection site)

Kent County

• Atlantic Apothecary, 103. S. Dupont Blvd., Suite 2, Smyrna, DE 19977
• Cheswold Police Department, 691 Main St., Cheswold, DE 19936
• Delaware State Police Troop 3, 3759 S. State St., Camden, DE 19934
• Heritage at Dover Assisted Living, 1203 Walker Road, Dover, DE 19904
• Walgreen's, 1001 Forrest Ave., Dover, DE 19904 (permanent collection site)
• Felton Police Department, 24 East Sewell St., Felton, DE 19943 (permanent collection site)
• Milford Police Department, 400 N.E. Front St., Milford, DE 19963 (permanent collection site)

Sussex County

• Dagsboro Police Department, 33134 Main St., Dagsboro, DE 19939
• Delaware State Police Troop 4, 23652 Shortly Road, Georgetown, DE 19947
• City of Lewes Board of Public Works, 129 Schley Ave., Lewes, DE 19958
• Delaware State Police Troop 7, 18006 Coastal Hwy., Lewes, DE 19958
• Milton Police Department, 101 Federal St., Milton, DE 19968
• Beebe Medical Tunnell Center, 18947 John Jay Williams Hwy., Rehoboth, DE 19971
• Rehoboth Beach Police Department, 229 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth, DE 19971
• CVS Pharmacy, 36252 Lighthouse Road, Selbyville, DE 19975
• Selbyville Town Hall, 68 W. Church St., Selbyville, DE 19975 (permanent collection site)
• Ocean View Police Department, 201 Central Ave., Ocean View, DE 19970 (permanent collection site)
• Laurel Police Department, 205 Mechanic St., Laurel, DE 19956 (permanent collection site)
• Walgreen's, 17239 Five Points Square, Lewes DE 19958 (permanent collection site)
• Walgreen's, 22898 Sussex Hwy., Seaford, DE 19973 (permanent collection site)