Is America’s opioid epidemic finally burning out?
Hindustan TimesStanding in the bitter cold outside the DeCoach Recovery Centre, a drug treatment clinic on the edge of an ocean of car parking in Hamilton, Ohio, Scott Weaver explains where his life went off track. “People will tell you it don’t because they don’t want to take it, ‘cause they ain’t done yet.” Mr Weaver’s story reflects America’s opioid crisis. “We never thought we would see this drop this fast,” says Jordan Meyer, an epidemiologist at the county’s health district, which distributes Narcan kits and fentanyl testing strips. “It’s fear,” says Dave Hawley, the clinical supervisor at River Rocks Recovery, a treatment centre in Middletown. With the rise of fentanyl, “it’s not about riding the edge any more.” In a place like Middletown, almost everybody will know somebody who has died of an overdose recently, he says.