Industrial Ohio City Reels From Surge in Heroin Overdoses

The small industrial city of Marion, Ohio is reeling from a recent surge in heroin overdoses. The Associated Press reports more than 30 people were sent to the hospital, and two people died, after taking blue-tinted heroin from Chicago in a 12-day stretch.

Heroin already had a grip on Marion before the latest surge in overdoses, which began May 20. Emergency crews have been treating an average of one overdose patient a day in this city of 37,000.

Officials say the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, carried by paramedics, saved the survivors of the latest heroin surge. “We were going from one to another to another, sometimes going back to the same house twice in one day for two different people,” said Police Chief Bill Collins. He asked state and federal agencies for help with the emergency.

The heroin contained the powerful painkiller fentanyl. The blue-tinted heroin is believed to have caused 56 overdoses and five deaths in the city since mid-April.

Addiction treatment providers say there is not nearly enough treatment available in the city. “Most of the time I feel like I’m drowning,” said Jody Demo-Hodgins, head of the Crawford-Marion Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services. “It’s something that’s happening everywhere.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, as of late March 30 states and the District of Columbia have implemented a law or developed a pilot program allowing naloxone to be administered by professional or lay persons. In some states, such as Ohio, people who administer naloxone must have specific training. Other states, such as Colorado, encourage education about overdoses and naloxone, but do not have training requirements.

Naloxone was administered 15,493 times by emergency medical crews in Ohio last year, according to the state health department.