NEWS

Louisville EMS slammed with 151 overdose calls

Beth Warren
@BethWarrenCJ

The city's top health official told some council members Wednesday that "Louisville needs to grow up" and offer more medication-assisted treatment since abstinence-based programs don't work for everyone.

Some treatment programs don't allow methadone, Suboxone and Subutex to try to wean addicts off stronger drugs, said Dr. Joann Schulte, who heads the Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness. Critics of using drugs in treatment say this method can merely substitute one addiction for another.

Following local and national news reports on recent overdose spikes, Schulte joined Louisville Metro EMS Director Jody Meiman and police officials in giving updates to the Community Affairs, Housing, Health and Education Committee on the addiction crisis and how it is evolving.

Starting at midnight Thursday, EMS fielded 151 overdose calls in four days, according to Metro EMS.

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Schulte said she repeatedly has been asked if the city's addiction and overdose epidemic will ease soon.

"My answer is 'No,'" she told the council.

The high volume of emergency calls ranged from overdoses linked to heroin as well as prescription pills, alcohol, other illicit drugs or a mix of drugs, said Mitchell Burmeister, a Louisville Metro EMS spokesman.

It's unknown whether heroin laced with something stronger contributed to the spike. Hospitals treat opioids in general and don't test to see which one caused a non-fatal overdose.

There were 695 overdose cases through the first month of 2017, a 33 percent increase from last year, Burmeister said. Louisville also suffered a March overdose spike and an August rash of overdoses.

Louisville Metro Police Maj. Eric Johnson said the force has already administered 123 doses of naloxone, a heroin and opioid antidote, to 89 people this year. That compares to all of January and February of last year when they treated just 33 people.

While efforts to save lives have intensified, so have measures to punish dealers. Narcotics Lt. Chuck Mann said detectives have seized more than 57 pounds of heroin this year, including a bust at a St. Matthews apartment complex last week that netted 36 pounds.

Councilwoman Vicki Aubrey Welch, a retired nurse, asked if methamphetamine and meth labs were still a significant problem in Louisville, but was assured heroin is a much larger threat now.

Police and health officials also repeated warnings about fentanyl, a drug Welch remembers hospitals using to treat patients' pain after surgery. The synthetic opioid, which can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin, is increasingly hidden in batches of heroin or other drugs, including fake prescription pills. Fentanyl is blamed in 139 overdose deaths last year, according to Jefferson County coroner data.

Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin asked if first-responders were concerned about carfentanil, an elephant tranquilizer up to 100 times more potent that fentanyl. The Courier-Journal reported Sunday about the city's first confirmed death blamed on the drug, which was never approved for consumption by humans.

Council president David Yates questioned why police don't issue citations to those who survive overdoses, using the criminal charge as leverage to force addicts into treatment.

The police major said often the drug is consumed, leaving behind only drug residue or paraphernalia. And judges typically require more proof to substantiate a charge, he said. Police also pointed to a state law that blocks those charges when someone seeks help in an emergency with the main goal reviving the person who overdosed.

Reporter Beth Warren can be reached at (502) 582-7164 or at bwarren@courier-journal.com.