Culpeper Overdose Awareness

cocaine

Our Addiction Epidemic

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Article: “Feds to let states tap opioid funds for meth, cocaine surge”

One thing we seem to be really good at is focusing on one problem at a time.
In our efforts to combat the staggering number of opioid deaths in our country, other issues are often put on the back burner.  A recent study outlined the rise in alcohol related deaths, and as we have put more restrictions on the availability of opioids, meth and cocaine deaths have increasingly been on the rise.

We need to get a handle on our opioid problem.
But also our benzo problem, our cocaine problem, our alcohol problem.
But really – we have to face the fact that we have an ADDICTION PROBLEM.

An addiction to the numbing effect that substances bring – not feeling pain – not having to deal with reality – an addiction to the feeling of not feeling.

We cannot begin to make a dent in any of these problems until we focus on the underlying reasons why, until we treat the co-occurring mental health struggles, provide community supports like safe affordable housing, second chance employment, long term treatment, recovery support, and implement intensive K-12 prevention programs for our children.

These are highly complex, complicated issues with no easy answers, but Culpeper is making progress!

Want to know how you can help?  Check out our UPCOMING EVENTS page to learn about opportunities to make a difference in your community.

And read the Article: Feds to Let States Tap Opioid Funds for Meth, Cocaine Surge

Death Certificates Don’t Lie

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Overall fatal drug overdoses decline,
but cocaine and methamphetamine
deaths climb

DEATH CERTIFICATES DON’T LIE

Joseph Fleming’s death certificate

When people hear that my son died of cocaine/fentanyl poisoning, many are hesitant to believe it.
“Are you sure?”
“That doesn’t make sense, one is a
stimulant and the other is a depressant”
“That must not be right.”
I’ve heard it all.

I was not there when Joe died, and I am no doctor, but I know this . . .
Joe’s toxicology results tell a story.
They tell a story of his last hours.
A story I have no other way of knowing because no one is talking – not to me at least.
This is all I have – the pure medical science of it.
A beautiful life condensed to a sheet of paper full of nonsensical numbers, sent to me in the mail by strangers who never even touched his body.

Did you know they don’t even bother doing autopsies on these deaths anymore?  Apparently,
the cost is too great – the backlog too enormous – the results assumably known.

Oh, that not one more will die Lord.
That not one more family with know these awful truths.
That is my prayer.  But I know in this fallen world – I ask the impossible.
So, I press on with awareness.  With speaking out at every opportunity.  Here is another awareness article from the Roanoke Times that I was happy to contribute to.
In memory of Joe,
but really . . .
for those still alive.

At first, Dee Fleming assumed her son died of a heroin overdose since that’s the opioid that’s been dominating the public’s attention. When she received the death certificate, she was surprised to learn that her son had died from a combination of cocaine and fentanyl, an opiate painkiller 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

After years of relatively stable numbers of cocaine overdoses in Virginia, in 2016, deaths increased 40 percent over the year before. In 2016 and 2017, fentanyl was implicated in more than 54 percent of cocaine deaths.

Read the full article by Amy Friedenberger at The Roanoke Times

Toxicology Results

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Cocaine laced with fentanyl killed Culpeper man – not heroin

Now three months after his death, we have received Joseph’s toxicology results from the medical examiner’s office.
Honestly, I was shockedby the results: cocaine/fentanyl poisoning.  The assumption was that Joseph died because of heroin. But none was found in his system.  Fentanyl is everywhere, it can be in anything.  Read the full story HERE