Lake County News-Sun |

‘It’s sad the numbers are not going down’: Durbin meets with Lake County officials fighting opioid epidemic

Local officials said Lake County has made great strides in combating the opioid epidemic, but told Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois that despite their progressive efforts, the crisis is not abating.

Durbin, who is doing a listening tour around the state, met with the local coroner, police, prosecutors, health department representatives and officials from the Gateway Foundation, one of the country’s largest nonprofit treatment providers specializing in substance abuse disorder.

“It’s a real eye-opener,” Durbin said after hearing that the number of opioid-related deaths keeps rising despite all the ways the different entities are working together to fight the epidemic.

“It’s sad the numbers are not going down as much as we would want,” he added. “This is the second time I’ve been here and look at the progress. First there was resistance to this whole concept — there was pushback, with people saying, ‘Hey these are drug addicts. We don’t want them to escape prosecution.'”

But Durbin also pointed to the united front against addiction, saying “look who we have at the table. Everyone is sitting here trying to solve the same problem and they’re really working together to do it.”

“It’s very encouraging, and it’s the only hope we have,” he added. “We are facing the worst drug epidemic in our history.”

Durbin said there has been a change of people’s perceptions of who overdoses, saying people used to think, 20 years ago, it was just a problem for black men from the poor part of town.

Now, he said, “They’re not sure. It could be a cheerleader from high school, a young man in college. This epidemic has broken all the rules and it calls for new thinking.”

One of the signs of hope are the lawsuits filed against the pharmaceutical companies. Durbin said he would like to see the millions that might be paid out to state, county and local governments go towards treatment and other ways to combat the opioid crisis.

“When it came to the Big Tobacco lawsuit, nothing much was spent on public health. They spent it on everything under the sun: highways, stadiums, retiring state debt. It had little connection to the cause of the lawsuit,” he said.

Durbin got the bad news about Lake County right away from Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper.

“We’re the last stop,” Cooper said, adding that he has seen an increase in fatal overdoses of just over 20% from 2017 to 2018, and this year the number could increase again.

The total number of deaths classified as overdoses in Lake County last year was 97, of which 70 involved some type of opioid or opiate. Anti-anxiety drugs, as well as a host of other street drugs, and even substances used in huffing, contributed to the non-opioid overdose deaths.

“This year, we have 42 confirmed overdoses and 44 cases pending toxicology,” Cooper said. “That’s pretty high for us at this time of year, (and) we’re seeing more fentanyl than heroin.”

Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Nerhiem said that, on a positive note, doctors are prescribing less and patients are questioning if they need something that strong.

“Physicians are more informed,” he said.

The county has initiated several progressive and life-saying programs, including being one of the first counties in Illinois and nationally to provide naloxone — a drug that reverses opioid overdoses — to all first-responders such as police and paramedics, and to train and provide school nurses with the antidote as well.

That resulted in 307 lives saved by first-responders since the naloxone program was started in early 2014, according to authorities.

With the help of the Lake County Opioid Initiative, police in the county began a program in June 2016 called A Way Out, through which addicts can seek help in finding treatment at local police stations without fear of arrest.

Officials said of the 549 people who have accessed A Way Out since its inception, 509 went on to receive treatment for their addictions.

But there are still shortages. “I’ve had deputies go to the South Side of Chicago or all the way up to Milwaukee to find a bed” for an addict that turned himself in, Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said.

Nerheim also reported that efforts to go after the source of the drugs has been more effective, saying “cooperation on the federal and local level has gotten significantly better.”

Dr. Tom Britton, president of the Gateway Foundation, said there has been an increase in the use of fentanyl, and it’s in a lot of street drugs. He is seeing it in methamphetamine now, and that is becoming a drug of choice. Meanwhile, there are 4,000 people on a waiting list for residential treatment at the foundation’s 17 treatment centers with 650 beds in Illinois.

“We just don’t have the beds,” he said.

Mark Pfister, executive director of the health department, said the treatment can be harder when people are taking a variety of drugs like heroin, opioids, benzoids, cocaine or four bottles of cough syrup.

“It complicates the treatment program, because they are using different substances,” he said.

Britton also said that relapse rates can be 40% to 60% in a year, but that is the same rate for other chronic diseases like diabetes.

Executive Director Karen Wolownik Albert of Gateway Lake Villa told members of the group that they are an example when she goes to national conventions and tells people what Lake County is doing.

“Everyone is always amazed when I tell them about the cooperative effort we have in Lake County. It’s so impressive, and we are really fortunate to have this in our community,” she said.