None of us can help the things life has done to us. They're done before you realize it, and once they're done they make you do other things until at last everything comes between you and what you'd like to be, and you've lost your true self forever.
–Eugene O’Neil, Long Day’s Journey Into Night
When the young man walked up to the casket, looked at the face of his good friend, Mark Jack, he leaned downed and licked his deceased friend’s face, those that observed this knew there were others in trouble. Two of his friends escorted him from the chapel knowing that a mix of alcohol and prescription drugs were the reason for his bizarre behavior. Mark’s mother knew there would be other deaths.
Mark died of a heroin overdose. His mother does not want to see a parent go through her grief. She and funeral director Charles A Castiglia, owner of Lake Memorial Funeral Home worked with the Buffalo News, Buffalo, NY to open discussion on this often hidden story.
Castiglia told the newspaper he has had to handle many opiate deaths. Buffalo’s Erie County was averaging 11 deaths a week. Funeral directors and first responders have taken a heavy emotional toll handling these senseless tragedies.
Mark Jack’s mother, Tricia Constantino has been very open about the problems that plagued her son and caused his death. She told the Buffalo News, “He didn’t have an accident or start with pain pills. He’s different than a lot of others. He basically jumped straight into the heroin.”
Dr. Mark Burstein, Health Commissioner of Erie County summed it up this way, “We know that it’s never been more available. It’s never been less expensive. It’s never been more potent. It’s never been laced with more substances like Fentanyl and Fentanyl-laced additives. And so people have access to this very, very dangerous, potent drug.”
The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports: “Opioids are medications that relieve pain. They reduce the intensity of pain signals reaching the brain and affect those brain areas controlling emotion, which diminishes the effects of a painful stimulus. Medications that fall within this class include hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin), oxycodone (e.g., OxyContin, Percocet), morphine (e.g., Kadian, Avinza), codeine, and related drugs. Hydrocodone products are the most commonly prescribed for a variety of painful conditions, including dental and injury-related pain. Morphine is often used before and after surgical procedures to alleviate severe pain. Codeine, on the other hand, is often prescribed for mild pain. In addition to their pain relieving properties, some of these drugs—codeine and diphenoxylate (Lomotil) for example—can be used to relieve coughs and severe diarrhea.”
If the drug Fentanyl sounds familiar it was the drug that reportedly ended the life of singer Prince. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, given to patients experiencing severe pain, such as cancer patients. It helps them feel relaxed and sometimes makes them feel euphoric.
Celebrity opioid and opiate related deaths are more and more prevalent. Cory Montieth, 31, of “Glee” had codeine and morphine in his system. Chris Kelly, 34, of the duo “Kriss Kross,” had heroin, cocaine, alcohol, hydrocodone and alprazolam in his system. Reid Fliehr, a WWE wrestler, had heroin and prescription drugs in his system. There are many more.
Ware, MA, a small town near Springfield, population near 10,000, had the highest opioid death rate in Massachusetts, per capita, according to 2015 statistics. Only five deaths, but per capita, put it higher than any other town or city.
Nanci Shipman of South Carolina, leads the battle against opiate deaths and overdoses. Her son Creighton, 19, died of a heroin overdose. Creighton was a lacrosse player who suffered an injury from being “cleated”. An abscess developed and painkillers were prescribed. His prescribed painkillers led him to heroin and death.
Charleston DEA agent Jason Sandoval stated that 61% of daily drug overdoses are from heroin and that Charleston sees two to three times more heroin use that the average.
Casey Jo Schulte, 26, died in Fargo, North Dakota of a drug overdose in 2015. She suffered from Crohn’s disease which inflicted severe digestive pain. She was given painkillers. Schulte later had surgery on her intestines and more painkillers. She later tried heroin. She was working at a convenience store. A friend, who was driving Casey Jo’s car told police where to find her, on a work bench in the back of her apartment garage.
Keith Walker of Walker Funeral Homes of the Toledo, Ohio area decided to take a stand against the horrific opioid deaths of young people.
He told the Toldeo Press, “We have had 22 overdose related deaths here in the last 12 months and I am tired of seeing it. I have had friends, friends' children, a nephew of a friend of mine, and young people who were all lost way too soon. Something has to be done to help stop this epidemic.” Walker said he has seen an uptick in the number of heroin and opioid related deaths in the last three years. Prior to that, he maybe saw three such deaths a year.
“Few businesses are exposed to this epidemic like we are,” Walker said. “We see the end result. These are young people, in their 20's and 30's that are dying and they have their whole lives in front of them. We see the devastation left and deal with the families. Lives are being cut too short.”
He has sponsored billboards and public service announcements telling the perils of heroin and opioid deaths.
States are beginning to implement state prescription monitoring sites. Stephen W. Patrick, MD, MPH, M.S., stated, “Today opioid overdoses are more common than car crashes. Our study provides support that prescription drug monitoring programs are part of what needs to be a comprehensive approach to the prescription opioid epidemic.”
The Center for Disease Control stated, in 2015, succinctly: “Deaths from prescription painkillers have been increasing for 15 years and there has been a recent surge in heroin-related deaths, tripling in the last four years.”
It is time for all of us, especially those who are called to care for those who lose their addiction battle, to use our resources and combine with health professionals to combat opioid deaths. So much talent and potential is lost every year.
It is their child today, will it be ours tomorrow?
“Please fight, not for those who die from this mass epidemic, but for those who are currently living it, Casey Jo never feared dying from her medications, she feared not having them. Reform will come too late for Casey Jo.”
–Shelly Elkington, mother of Casey Jo Schulte