The UShas a long love affair with “feel good drugs” going back to the 1850’s.
From the 1850’s to the early1900’s, cocaine and opium-laced elixirs, tonics and wines were broadly used bypeople of all social classes. Doctors prescribed these tonics forailments such as toothaches, depression and sexual disorders and were given to youngand old alike. And I'm sure you remember the famous story of the Coco Cola recipeof this era. It wasn’t until someyears later in 1920 that the dangers of these drugs became apparent and the US government tookaction.

The old Lunacy Records at the court house show that even family members fromwell to do family became addicted to these drugs and were sent away to asylums.

I believe what we are seeing today are many of these addicts became hooked bywell meaning doctors that have over prescribed pain medication to patients. Iwonder how many of their patients have died from these prescribed medicationsin recent years. Examples ofopioids are: Painkillers such as; morphine, methadone, Buprenorphine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. Heroin isalso an opioid and is illegal. Opioid drugs sold under brand names include:OxyContin®, Percocet®, Palladone® (taken off the market 7/2005),Vicodin®,Percodan®, Tylox® and Demerol® amongothers.

This drug problemis not just happening in the back allies of Middletown. It is happening in your neighborhood…all you need to do is look into the medicine cabinets.

Yep, we lovethese “Feel good drugs”. Sad but true.

Updated: 6:39 p.m.Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016 | Posted: 6:07 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016

Middletown may convert firestation into halfway house

Proposal part of city’saction plan to combat heroin problem

ByMike Rutledge

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

Thecity’s former fire station on Tytus Avenue may be repurposed as a halfway house in Middletown’s battleagainst heroin addiction.

CityManager Doug Adkins on Saturday told City Council that architects are evaluatingthe fire station to see how easily it could be converted into a halfway housefor people recovering from addiction after they leave drug rehabilitationprograms.

Preliminaryplans would have the city lease the fire station, which was deactivated lastyear, to Community Behavioral Health, which would operate the halfway house.

“CommunityBehavioral Health has some grant money that would be used for the conversion”for residential use, Adkins said.

“Thatis going on slowly,” he said, noting Law Director Les Landen is drafting apotential lease for the building.

Theheroin scourge is a big problem in Middletownand across the region — crossing socioeconomic and geographic barriers andhitting urban, rural and suburban areas alike.

In2014 alone, Adkins said, the city spent $1.5 million in tax money directlyresponding to heroin addiction. Police spent $1.2 million investigating nearly1,500 heroin complaints that resulted in 66 search warrants. Heroin wasinvolved in two murders, 86 deaths and more than 700 arrests for drug-relatedcrime, according to a city report issued last month.

Meanwhile,the Middletown Division of Fire spent more than $175,000 responding to 702reported overdoses within city limits, and emergency medical personnel usedNarcan, which revives people from overdoses, 333 times, the report states. TheMiddletown Health Department spent more than $18,000 on indigent burials forpeople who died of overdoses.

Theproblem was so severe that the city during 2015 partnered with Premier Health andAtrium Medical Centerto host several Heroin Summits, out of which officials developed a $250,000action plan to combat the problem.

Adkinstold the council he has met with large companies, hospitals, Butler Countygovernment and charitable organizations seeking money to finance the actionplan.

“Weare going to distribute the plan to all of the churches next week and ask themto take a look at it, and if the church believes it’s something that it wouldbe appropriate to get involved in…. We’re not asking for a particular dollaramount, if they want to give us $50, if they want to give us $5,000, we’ll takewhatever you want to give.”

Manyfoundations and large charitable organizations have specific dates when theymake decisions on such funding, and for some, those annual considerationperiods have not yet arrived, Adkins said.

“Atsome point during this I will probably come to you asking for some money to dopart of the plan,” he told the council. “I will fund-raise everything I can andsee if we have an interest in picking up some of the remainder (of the costs).”

“We’vegot to try something to knock this down and get this back under control,”Adkins said. “I don’t have any idea how soon, or how much, or anything, otherthan we will continue to work on getting it through grants and other sources.”

Thenext Heroin Summit will be held Feb. 29, with progress reports offered onefforts to implement the action plan.