Posted: 12:00 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015
Agencies ‘need to mobilize’ against heroin epidemic

Heroin Summit in Middletown meant to develop action steps.

By  http://www.journal-news.com/staff/hannah-poturalski/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

More than $1.5 million in government funds were spent responding to the growing heroin problem in Middletown last year, City Manager Doug Adkins said.

Adkins said he asked the city’s public safety forces and health department to calculate for 2014 the city’s direct cost to responding to the heroin problem.

The $1,577,864 spent included over $18,000 for indigent burials of drug overdose deaths; $167,000 spent by the fire department; and $1.3 million for the police department, including patrols, special operations by the narcotics unit and jail corrections, according to Adkins.

He said on top of that 49 people in Middletown died from heroin last year.

“If I put it to you there was a defective product in this community and it killed 50 people and it generated $1.5 million in damages … we would lose our minds,” Adkins said. “We would absolutely stand up and say, ‘No more.’ But heroin is uncomfortable; we don’t like to talk about that.”

In response, the city of Middletown and Atrium Medical Center are holding a Heroin Summit from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday at the hospital. The day-long event is not open to the public because it’s a work session for community stakeholders to set goals and begin developing a community-wide response to dealing with the heroin issue most effectively, Adkins said.

“I believe this will be the most difficult issue I will face this year,” Adkins said. “Heroin is devious, funding is scarce and the damage to our community is almost beyond calculation.”

Adkins said when he started in 2005 as the city prosecutor, he would come into the office on a Monday to find about 20 people in jail from over the weekend. He said only about three cases were felony crimes.

“Then heroin resurged in this community, and if we come in on a Monday morning now, there are 30-35 in jail and over 20 of them are felonies, almost all related to drug abuse and drug addiction in this community,” Adkins said.

He said the $1.5 million spent responding to heroin kept the city from paving an additional six miles of roadways and putting more public safety people on the streets.

Adkins said the Heroin Summit will include stakeholders from city government, police and fire, the prosecutor’s office, the courts system, health care providers, education, business and religious communities, and civic and social groups. State Rep. Tim Derickson (R-Hanover Twp.) is also scheduled to appear.

Tina Gregory, nursing director of Atrium’s emergency department and behavioral health unit, said she’s hoping the multi-disciplinary agencies will be able to collaborate to develop action steps.

“It’s not a problem one piece of the puzzle will solve,” Gregory said. “We need to mobilize against this.”

Gregory said the Middletown hospital has felt the same burden from the heroin problem as hospitals and communities across Ohio. From 2000 to 2012, there’s been a 366 percent increase in drug overdose deaths in Ohio, according to Gregory.

“We see patients with heroin problems several times a week,” she said.

During a 24-hour period in the first week of January, Gregory said Atrium treated 14 heroin overdoses and, surprisingly, none of them resulted in a death.

“People though are dying,” Gregory said.

In the first three months of 2014, Butler County had 50 drug overdose deaths — a 139 percent increase over the same period in 2013, according to Gregory.

During the entire 2014, Middletown alone had 49 heroin deaths and another seven pending the final coroner report, Adkins said.

Gregory said men and women between the ages of 25 and 34 are at the highest risk for a fatal drug overdose.

“We have stigmas that we put with drug abuse. … Drug addicts are bad people; people addicted to drugs must come from dysfunctional families; heroin addiction is a character flaw,” Adkins said. “I will be the first to say those addicted to drugs are responsible for their choices and their behavior, but I will also say I’ve spent enough time talking to medical professionals … to say that when heroin addiction takes control of a person, it is now a chronic medical condition.”

Adkins said 40-60 percent of drug addicts will relapse.

Gregory said it’s “such an intense use of resources” for emergency medical responders, police and fire, and hospitals to respond to and treat heroin use. She said the medical costs are “outstanding.”

“There are so many other collateral effects,” Gregory said. “People losing jobs, family factors, children in foster care, the emotional piece.”

Gregory said Atrium recently received $11,000 in grant funds to obtain 150 Narcan kits, that include the drug used to reverse the effects of an overdose and educational materials. She said doctors at the hospital will prescribe the kits — valued at $72 each — to patients that could benefit, as well as help educate family members.

Efforts across Butler County to get a handle on the growing heroin problem have included formation of a county-wide opiate abuse task force; development of a Youth Heroin Prevention Initiative by Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser; formation of Heroin Control, a group for family members of addicts; and Hope Over Heroin rallies.

Gmoser said he’s visited students in Hamilton and Trenton schools alongside a handful of recovering heroin addicts that share their personal experiences with the students. He said a 54-year-old woman shared her story of once being a high school cheerleader but has since lost two husbands to her heroin use.

“The superintendents and principals were really quite amazed how quiet the audience was during the speaker,” Gmoser said. “Usually, there’s always a rustling, but during this program, (the students) were riveted.”

Gmoser said he believes it’s most effective to catch the young person before they start experimenting with highly-addictive drugs.

By the Numbers

The city of Middletown in 2014 spent over $1.5 million* in direct response to heroin use.

$1,280,387 spent by Middletown Division of Police for dispatch, patrol, detectives, special operations (narcotics unit), jail corrections and police records

$167,000 spent by Middletown Division of Fire

$112,224 spent by Middletown Municipal Court on criminal and civil eviction cases

$18,253 spent on indigent burials for overdoses

$1,577,864 total spent in 2014

Source: Middletown City Manager Doug Adkins

*The exact numbers are difficult to calculate. Each department attempted to capture their direct calls for service and quantify the costs associated with their response.

Posted: 7:04 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26, 2015

Leaders share ideas to tackle heroin in Middletown

By  http://www.journal-news.com/staff/rick-mccrabb/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

    Community leaders hope they took another step toward ending, or at least reducing, the heroin epidemic in the Middletown area.

    About 40 people representing a cross section of the community gathered for six hours Monday at Atrium Medical Center, sharing ideas on how to loosen heroin’s grip that killed 49 people in the city last year, and strained city and public safety budgets. City    Manager Doug Adkins said Middletown spent $1.5 million last year dealing with the affects of heroin, and it’s time to be proactive.

     “We are in this for the long haul,” Adkins told the group at the conclusion of the Heroin Summit, a work session for community stakeholders to set goals and begin developing a community-wide response to dealing with the heroin issue. “This will not be quick. It won’t be three meetings and, ‘Thank God, we solved heroin.’”

    He said if the city can reduce deaths related to heroin by 50 percent that would be “a pretty remarkable accomplishment.”

    Adkins said in 2014 the city spent $1.3 million for the police department, including patrols, special operations by the narcotics unit and jail corrections; $167,000 by the fire department; and more than over $18,000 for indigent burials of drug overdose deaths.

    From 2000 to 2012, there was a 366-percent increase in drug overdose deaths in Ohio, according to state records.

    Jackie Phillips, city health director, said heroin addiction is an epidemic that’s impacted the entire U.S. She said heroin hits harder in communities that face poverty, offer easy access and are located near major cities.

    “We have more of those factors,” she said.

    Adkins said a follow-up meeting is set for Feb. 23 at the hospital and he hopes to continue the momentum that started Monday at the summit, which drew members of the medical community, church and city leaders, business leaders, police and fire officials and elected officials.

    They talked about the importance of prevention, treatment and education. They said the city needs to educate its youth about the dangers associated with heroin, install a centralized phone service to direct those with questions regarding heroin, and open a one-stop center so addicts can receive in- and out-patient treatments.

    “We build jails for these people,” said Mike Gmoser, Butler County prosecutor. “We need to build facilities for these people.”

    Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims said his jail, which is sometimes referred to as a “detox center,” has had success giving inmates shots of Vivitrol, which eliminates the high associated with heroin. He said the inmates receive up to six shots, and the cost a one-month prescription is about $1,200

    “You can only help those who want to be helped,” Phillips said.

    Ron Ward is one of those who wanted helped, he said. Ward, 46, who has been clean from methamphetamine for two years and six months, said he started Celebrate Restoration out of his Middletown home. The goal: Get addicts off the streets and return them to productive lives. He said since last year, he has assisted five addicts, three from Middletown.

    “I just love the city, and I want to see us get better,” he said.

    Marquita Turner, chief nursing officer at Atrium, and Lamar Ferrell, pastor of Berachah Church in Middletown, said prayer is needed, and God is the most powerful remedy.

    “We have to call on this higher being, the healer to fix this problem,” said Turner, who added the “just say no” anti-drug message needs to be more consistent.

    It’s important, she said, to get into the homes of addictive parents and make sure their children don’t make the same decisions.

    Ferrell said since heroin addiction is considered a disease and those impacted need healing, there is something people can do that is free. He’d like for the community to meet once a week, at the same time, the same place, and pray for those shackled by heroin.

    “We will ask God to do the impossible,” Ferrell told the group. “We are dealing with impossible situations, but we are not dealing with a God who is stumped. He’s saying, ‘Trust me.’”

Where to begin.

The majority of voters elected the current council and board of election members by a large number of voters and outcomes representing 75% or greater and somehow that represents a minority? That defies logic and factual objectivity.  Re-litigating past elections on desired results does not change elected officials won by the majority of voters. If the votes don't represent the majority of voters and desires, are you suggesting in any given election cycle, if 100% of those registered don't vote, the election results are tainted, or not real? If so, every elected official in the nation using your logic, was elected by a minority, your minority, and you want a mulligan, a do-over.  

The problems in Middletown began many years ago, and long before the present city council and board of education elected officials came to power. These hard working and dedicated individuals did not cause the decline in Middletown. Conversely, they attempted to rid the city of section 8, that the majority of musa desired to be cut. They paved almost all major roads, extended the area east of 75. They expanded education possibilities with Cincinnati State, and slowly but methodically, have the building blocks to re-store downtown Middletown. There is not an urban planner or public study that doesn't reveal the direct success a city or municipality has, or doesn't have, with a robust thriving city. If Middletown is to succeed, it MUST have a downtown offering many amenities to residents and busineses.

Well Factguy let us start here....Notice date and players of this action

 Posted: 01 Sep 2009 at 7:07am

We need a meeting ASAP! 

    Tonight at the council meeting Mr. Adkins will be unveiling his new HUD plan for the City of Middletown that will forever change the way HUD funds can be used in Middletown. Because of all the HUD - Section 8 housing the income level of Middletown is now 54% low to moderate and therefore the Council can now declare the entire City of Middletown as a “SLUM AND BLIGHTED AREA”. If the entire City of Middletown is declared a “SLUM” then all HUD Money will not be restricted to designated areas as before. (Wards 1 & 2) Now ALL the HUD FUNDS can be used anyplace in the City that Council desires without any controls what so ever. 
    We the people will have no voice as to where we want these funds to be used.
    I spoke with Anita Scott Jones last night and she confirmed that this is the new plan for Middletown.

FactGuy writes:

“It takes much more to become organized and define a purpose than to follow the path of anger. Without organization, purpose, structure, discipline, and an objective, nothing can be accomplished. Of greater importance, is intelligence, credibility, and an ability to communicate. If there is no credibility, others have no desire to be associated with an individual nor group, Without a message and ability to communicate effectively, you create confusion. Without purpose, there is no desire to achieve, to overcome, to change, to succeed. Without an ability to define the audience and who votes in elections, you are wasting your time. The reason we win is you have never found nor maintained anything but anger associated with minority status. Knowledge is power. Power is control. Control is guidance. Guidance is leadership. “   

Factguy you are loose with the facts and distort facts as it is convenient for you to do so in avoiding all of the things that are said to you by all of those who have responded to you in this forum.

Here are some facts for you:

 Elections have been won in Middletown because those who have been in power have increased bureaucracy and intimidate them if they don’t vote the way they are told. You have MMF that is an illegal political action committee and has worked to manipulate elections. You have firemen (an estimated 80% of whom live out of the city) putting on their identifying shirts and going door to door at election time with a biased message to vote for the cities agenda instead of working just to get out the vote. They do so to guarantee their paychecks and pensions. This provides the city with an enormous, unfair (and probably illegal) voting machine that otherwise couldn’t be afforded even by the city. The Seniors are intimidated by the threat of lack of funding if they don’t vote the cities agenda. The school Board also follows the pattern to vote the city agenda and get school employees to vote their salaries instead of what is right and good and fair for the citizens of the city. Nepotism also has assured votes. Look at our police department. This is where the votes come from to win the elections.  Elections in Middletown are not won by candidates honestly. This is the audience the city has defined to win elections.

Because Middletown has been without organization, purpose, structure, discipline, and an objective, nothing in Middletown has been accomplished of significance to turn the city around.

There has been no intelligence, credibility, and ability to communicate. Thus, If there is no credibility, others have no desire to be associated with the city and without a message and ability to communicate effectively, you have created confusion.  This is probably the underlying cause of citizen apathy.

You state, “Knowledge is power. Power is control. Control is guidance. Guidance is leadership.”  Well, power and control have been the main elements in Middletown city government for a long time.  Yet, the city has not turned around or prospered. Why is that? It is because the power and control has been misused and abused for personal interests and pet projects and not for the betterment of the entire city.

The city has no clear vision or plan for its future. The 20 year plan is nebulous at best and so are the other plans including Adkins current plan which city council has failed to share with its citizenry. But then they always act in secrecy and transparency is not one of their practices.

The city needs a clear plan for its future. It must quit being so short sighted and must enlarge the vision for the future. Downtown is not enough! It needs a plan with the specific purpose of turning the city around. The plan must be specific, with a clear time line of accomplishment,  specific steps for financing it  and an emphasis on public safety, infrastructure and economic development. Providing jobs and transparency in our finances must be paramount.  As a beginning point I offer the following for consideration:

President Obama has designated 8.1 Billion dollars to return manufacturing back to the United States. Our great Governor John Kasich has designated 800 million dollars for manufacturing for the State of Ohio.

We can get those in the fields of  Education, health, technology, lite/clean manufacturing to come here.

We need to enlarge our vision and stop the petty, stinking thinking.

It looks like our Chamber of Commerce has got a new, active, positive and practical approach to our business needs and we should use them and encourage them to continue on.

There are some things right about Middletown but not due to our present administration.

If nothing else, we can imitate what West Chester, Mason, Monroe, Springboro, Hamilton and Fairfield are doing. This city belongs to all of its taxpaying citizens and not just to the few who are self serving. We need public servants who are interested in serving others.

The voices on this forum have a clear understanding of where we are and where we need to go. We should be thankful for their commitment and continued concerns.

Paul Nagy