Greenfield has a well-stocked NaloxBox outside The Landing Place, 18 W. South St. The box contains life-saving doses of the overdose antidote Narcan. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)
Greenfield has a well-stocked NaloxBox outside The Landing Place, 18 W. South St. The box contains life-saving doses of the overdose antidote Narcan. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)
By the numbers
Hancock County drug overdose deaths:

Jan. 1, 2021 to July, 25, 2021: 10 drug-related deaths

2020: 14 deaths
2019: 11 deaths
2018: 20 drug related deaths
2013-2017 (inclusive): 27 deaths

Source: Hancock County coroner and Indiana State Department of Health.
HANCOCK COUNTY — The drug overdose happened a few years ago, but the painful memory lingers with Greenfield Police Department Deputy Chief Chuck McMichael.

“He was a young man who was found by his family,” McMichael said. “He’d been ‘clean’ for a few months and was going to meetings weekly and meeting with his sponsor. The family had no idea he was even thinking about using again.”

That’s always the hardest part, McMichael said: Dealing with the destruction overdose deaths leave behind for families.

Indiana reported a 33% increase in fatal overdoses from 2019 to 2020, according to data released in late July by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths from accidental overdoses are rising in Hancock County as well: According to a report from the Hancock County coroner, 11 people died via accidental overdoses in 2019. The number rose to 14 in 2020.

The county is on pace to eclipse that total in 2021.

A further look at the national information released by the CDC shows drug overdose deaths reached a record high of 93,331 in 2020, more than 20,000 deaths above the previous high in 2019. That equates to the largest single-year percentage increase on record since 1999.

Since 2015, the percentage of all U.S. deaths attributed to overdoses has grown from 1.9% to 2.8%, even as COVID-19 increased total deaths by more than 300,000 in 2020, according to the CDC data.

“The numbers are staggering,” prosecutor Brent Eaton said, referring to drug overdose deaths. “The way drugs can hollow out and devastate a community is a terrifying reality.”

Temporary help

Hancock County’s overdose toll could be even higher if not for timely intervention by first-responders. Officers from the GPD have already administered more doses of Narcan this year than at any previous time since the life-saving overdose antidote, also known as naloxone, became available. The same is true for the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.

So far in 2021, GPD officers have administered 20 doses, a record number, McMichael said. Of those, 28% received multiple doses of Narcan, and only one person had received the life-saving measure previously. The department administered six doses of Narcan in 2018; 14 in 2019 and 18 in 2020.

Sheriff’s deputies administered five doses of Narcan in 2020, said Capt. Robert Harris, public information officer for the sheriff’s department. The department matched that by the end of July 2021.

“It appears we are already near, or past numbers for all of last year and it is only August,” Harris said.

From Jan.1 through July 25, the county coroner recorded 10 drug-related deaths. Reports on five of the 10 victims listed fentanyl — a highly powerful synthetic opioid — in their drug screen results, according to records from the coroner’s office. Three died of poly-drug intoxication, meaning pathology tests detected multiple drugs in their system.

Deadlier Drugs

Although it should go without saying, Eaton feels it’s important to remind families of the danger of addiction.

“Everyone’s brother, sister, child, spouse or friend is essentially one bad decision away from being there,” Eaton said.

Drugs today are also more potent, law enforcement officials said. Fentanyl, for example, is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Officials also noted many local manufacturers of illegal drugs have been squeezed out.

“There aren’t many people cooking meth in the county anymore,” Eaton said.

Imported drugs are the thing, he noted. They supply a stronger, deadlier high, for less money.

“It’s a more pure, but fatal, product,” Eaton said.

According to the CDC, synthetic opioids were involved in more than 60% of all overdose deaths in the nation, while deaths involving cocaine (21%) and other psychostimulants like methamphetamine (46%) also rose dramatically. In 2015, synthetic opioids were involved in only 18% of all overdose deaths.

Fentanyl, which has a high risk for addiction and dependence, is a real problem, Eaton said. Law enforcement officials have federal information indicating the drug — which in its legal form is prescribed for severe pain — is smuggled into the country after being manufactured in labs in Asia.

According to the CDC, Fentanyl led to more than 37,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2019, part of a national opioid crisis that worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. McMichael noted that in two of the overdose deaths they’ve investigated this summer, the victims had alarmingly high levels of Fentanyl in their systems. One person had 10 times the lethal dose and the other had five times the lethal dose for a human.

Eaton said there is not only a supply issue in the county, but also a demand problem that must be addressed.

“We work aggressively with law enforcement to enforce the laws that are written, and that includes drug offenses,” Eaton said. “We supply support so that law enforcement can get the search warrants and things they need.”

Eaton noted the county’s probation department does an effective job with violators when officers discover through regular screenings that probationers are abusing drugs.

“There is accountability when they are screening people who are violating the rules,” Eaton said. “What is it that puts people in jail most of the time? The answer is probation violations. We are litigating those consistently.”

He also believes treatment programs and new measures coming online with the opening of the county’s new jail in early 2022 will have a chance to make a difference.

Sheriff Brad Burkhart is planning on expanding the current jail programs, including juvenile intervention programs, Harris said. However, once the jail opens, the plan is to explore more options including adding new programs.

Burkhart has already added two positions in the proposed budget for next year for jail navigators. The employees will help guide inmates through the treatment process, appointments, court dates and more, Harris said, as well as connect them to continuing services once they are released from custody.

Lasting solutions

One of the treatment measures that officials feel is paramount is the county’s Drug Court program, Eaton said. Beth Ingle, the director of the program, said the success rate for participants is 52%.

While she noted the statistic may seem low, the figure is above the lowest average for the United States. Such programs generally have a success rate of 35% to 75%.

“We feel we are making real strides with our participants as we have reduced recidivism of our graduates by 65%,” she said in an email to the Daily Reporter, referring to people who suffer relapses and wind up back in jail for drugs.

Ingle made it clear Drug Court is not a self-help program, but a very structured, highly monitored, court-ordered operation that works to hold offenders accountable.

“It may be voluntary to enter the program, but once an offender is in the program they have to follow our rules and stay drug- and alcohol-free,” she said.

That means attending substance abuse treatment and following the recommendations of the treatment provider along with submitting to frequent drug testing and making review hearing appearances before Judge Scott Sirk, whose court oversees the program.

“If rules are broken, corrective yet graduating sanctions ensue,” Ingle said.

If a relapse occurs, there is a treatment response. All problem-solving courts, Ingle noted, were created to enhance retention in treatment and improve outcomes for a person charged with drug-related crimes who have serious substance-use disorders.

“We feel that with a 65% reduction in recidivism that we are absolutely making a difference,” Ingle said.

Despite local efforts, state officials know the issue with drug overdose rates will not decrease on its own.

Gov. Eric Holcomb recently announced the state will fund a $1.3 million distribution of naloxone to ensure the medication reaches Hoosiers who are at risk of drug overdose.

This is the state’s third investment in naloxone distribution since May 2020, when Holcomb announced a $1 million investment in 25,000 doses amid the pandemic. This is in addition to the 28,200 doses of naloxone distributed by the state health department in 2020. In February 2021, Holcomb announced the state would partner with Overdose Lifeline, Inc. to place 215 NaloxBox units statewide.

There is currently one box located in Greenfield, at The Landing Place, 18 W. South St. Amanda Everidge, director of community health at Hancock Regional Hospital, said access to a second box is available, but officials are waiting to find a location for installation.

The hospital’s Healthy365 program, she said, will soon be able to provide naloxone and education to individuals and organizations in need.

They’re making plans to open a site where someone could come to obtain a dose of naloxone for future use and also receive a brief training on when and how to administer the drug. The training would include learning about signs and symptoms of overdose, follow-up actions and connection to substance-use treatment resources for themselves or a loved one.

They’re working out an agreement with the county health department to obtain doses so individuals can call or walk in during business hours to receive the medication and support.

They will also be offering a Community Reinforcement and Family Training, or CRAFT, support group in October.

“This will be an in-person group for individuals who love someone in addiction,” Everidge said.

Already this year, Overdose Lifeline, Inc. and the state health department have distributed more than 40,900 doses of naloxone to individuals, first-responders, local health departments and other distribution entities.

“It’s great folks can access it for emergency use, but most people don’t realize that Narcan is temporary,” McMichael said.

Eventually, the drug wears off, McMichael said, and depending on the dose of the drug taken, the person in need of Narcan can still potentially die if they do not receive medical treatment quickly after receiving Narcan.

“Saving their life is more important than worrying about getting them in trouble,” McMichael said of victims and loved ones who are hesitant to seek help during an episode. “People need to call 911.”

McMichael noted it takes a toll on law enforcement officials who often arrive first on the scene, save a life with Narcan and are then called back to the same residence a few weeks later only to see the same person once again in dire trouble.

Or worse.

“I have been on more than a few of these, unfortunately,” McMichael said. “They are never easy.”
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