Butler County Opiate Crisis: Funding from fed, state government

BY BONNIE MEIBERS

Miami University journalism student

As opioid overdoses continue to soar in Butler County and across the U.S. capturing headlines and the nation's attention, deaths from methamphetamines are on the upswing again sparking local concern.

The number of overdoses from all overdose deaths continues to plague law enforcement, health officals as well as the Butler County Cornoner's office. November was three overdose deaths shy of being the worst month for overdoses in 2017.

Not only have deaths from opiate overdoses skyrocketed but so have deaths from other drugs, including methamphetamines. To date this year, 29 people have died from methamphetamines, according to the Butler County Coroner's office.

That is an increase from the year before—and the years before that.

In 2014, one person overdosed with methamphetamines in their system.

By 2015, that number had risen to eight. And last year, 11 people overdosed with methampetamine in their system. Methamphetamine is a synthetic stimulant that is highly-addictive and is known on the street as crystal, crystal meth, crank and meth among other names. It can be smoked, snorted or injected.

“With the trend steadily going up, it’s a good guess that we will have more deaths this year,” said Martin Schneider from the Butler County Coroner’s office.

“It’s every group, every income level, every age. Babies are born every day drug addicted,” Ohio Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine said on a campaign trip to Oxford Nov. 14.

DeWine's office issuing five pharmaceutical companies for downplaying the addictive properties of opiates. DeWine sued Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, Endo and Cephalon in May.

Opioid Cost To Taxpayers

The opioid crisis began in the 1990’s as prescription pain relievers were given to more and more patients.

Opiates are highly addictive pain killers. They come in the form of prescription pills, heroin and the synthetic and much deadlier relative to heroin, fentanyl.

The toll drugs take on a community is also financial.

Costs to Butler County taxpayers have more than doubled since 2014 for the coroner’s office to perform toxicology tests.

In 2014, toxicology cost taxpayers $37,733. Costs through November this year are $54,920.

In 2015, $46,445 was spent on toxicology and in the following year, $55,152 was spent.

The coroner is funded by the Butler County general fund.

“We had to increase our budget, due to more overdose deaths,” Schneider said. “We have had to add a full-time investigator, bringing our team from three to four.”

The coroner has also given their investigators laptop computers. This is an increase in the budget, but is not directly related to the drug problem, Schneider said.

“It's not out of the question that we will be paying $20,000 more in toxicology expenses over our total in 2014,” Schneider said. “While this does not give you the overall picture of how much more the drug problem has cost the public, it is one small snapshot that is directly related to the drug problem.”

Are Heroin Users Switching to Meth?

While opiates claim more lives than methamphetamines, the recent uptick in meth concerns Oxford Police Lt. Lara Fening.

Once a month Fening goes out with a representative from Butler Behavioral Health Services and talks to current and recovering drug addicts in Oxford.

“A few weeks ago I ran into people who had used heroin and felt they had smarted up [because they were now using methamphetamines]. They don’t like the risk involved with heroin, they don’t always know what’s in it,” Fening said. “These people think that [taking heroin is] just too risky.”

Fening gave a couple reasons for why Butler County could be seeing the rise of methamphetamines.

“They feel like meth keeps them more in control,” Fening continued. “But they don’t have control, they have these physical ticks that are really evident, we call it ‘tweaking.’”

Another reason, she said, is cost. The cost of meth on the street has gone down over the years, Fening said, making is just as available to drug users as opiates like fentanyl.

“There are resources for opiates, but not really anything else,” Fening said.

National Health Epidemic Fuels Funding

In December of 2016, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act to help fight the opioid epidemic. The program allocates $1 billion in the form of grants to states over two years.

Tiffany Lombardo, the director of Addiction Services at the Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board, said Butler County has received just over $660,000 of that federal funding since the 21st Century Cures Act was passed. It is guaranteed until April of 2017.

“The [21st Century] Cures Act funding is not long-term nor is it guaranteed for next year,” Lombardo said.

The Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board is also scheduled to receive $974,945 from the State of Ohio to support addiction services in Butler County this year. This allocation changes yearly based on the Ohio State Budget and Allocation expenditures.

All of the funding that the Board receives is from federal and state grants. Many other agencies that help recovering and current addicts are funded this way.

Grants are sometimes streamlined to specific funds, like to help struggling single women or addicted adolescents, but more often they are given for general funding, Lombardo said.

There are no specific funds for those addicted to methamphetamines.

‘We Could Always Use More’

The board works with the funding it has, she said

“We could always use more, there is always room for expansion,” Lombardo said. “We could be doing more, but I think that we do what we can with the money that we do have.”

Adalicia Carrillo, a crisis and consultation manager for Butler Behavioral Health Services said that the federal funding her organization gets from the board allows them to make treatment more accessible and helps fund the quick response team.

The quick response team pairs with local police, like Fening in Oxford, to make visits to people they know have overdosed within the last month.

“Some times she can maintain phone contact with them, but that always dies down. But it’s inevitable that when we go, we run into people who also need help. [Addicts] are willing to talk to her,” Fening said.

To get outpatient help with a drug addiction, residents of Butler County need to have a photo ID, which many don’t have, Carrillo said. It is also often difficult for those residents to find transportation to get treatment.

--Top photo: Butler County has been hit hard by the opiate crisis and other drug addiction issues. Photo contributed.