People have died time and time again due to apparent drug overdoses. We’re seeing it ruin entire families in an instant. Heroin addiction is shaking communities as we watch individuals with once bright futures ruined by a drug that is well known for its lethal capacity yet is so easily accessible and so potent that many overlook the potential dangers for a quick high.
Recently, Police say four deaths over a five-day span this month are suspected to be heroin overdoses: three in Torrington between Nov. 2 and 3 and another in Winsted Nov. 6.
Litchfield County sees one murder every few years on average, but we’ve seen four people pass in less than a week, many more in the past months and years, from addiction to heroin.
That many deaths that close together often points to a bad batch of drugs, possibly cut with something that makes the heroin even more dangerous. In these cases possibly clenbuterol, a veterinary drug banned for human use and use in animals used for food in the U.S.
Last month, the Connecticut Poison Control Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center said there was a possible tainted batch of heroin in circulation in the state. State police say their Statewide Narcotics Task Force is aware of the reports of the tainted drugs, but say there is no evidence of a spike in heroin-related deaths in the state.
It’s easy to point at a bad batch, or a particularly strong form of the drug, or unfortunate coincidence, or any other minor detail as the reason for these tragedies.
But one of the biggest issues here stems from how we treat addicts in our society. Such denial of there being a problem in our state, our city, our friends and loved ones, only allows for it to exist in the dark, away from a support structure that could possibly pull these individuals away from the grips of addiction.
The stigma of being labeled an addict leads many to try to fight addiction without help and leads communities to block efforts to bring help.
This is a public health crisis and needs to be treated as such.
Guest Editorial