In January, Dr. Margaret Greenwald, Maine’s chief medical examiner, announced that overdose deaths related to the use of heroin quadrupled in 2012 alone. Preliminary data collected for 2013 indicates that this figure is only expected to keep climbing as hundreds more Maine families begin to live the unthinkable.
My wife, Kathy, and I lost our 21-year-old son, Will, to a heroin overdose five years ago when he was in college. Not a day, not an hour goes by that we do not think of him. Time supposedly heals, but the loss of a child is different. It is a hole in your heart, a chasm that never heals.
LD 1686, An Act to Address Preventable Deaths from Drug Overdose, is under consideration in our Legislature. The anti-opioid naloxone has been proven to save lives when it is put in the hands of first responders and responsible family members. Naloxone can reverse a narcotic overdose and studies suggest that naloxone distribution programs actually encourage some people to enter treatment.
Similar legislation has been passed in 18 states and is currently being considered by at least six others. Programs in other states have led to a dramatic reduction in overdose deaths. If enacted, Maine could save 100 lives every year.
During his March 10 address, Attorney General Eric Holder supported putting naloxone into the hands of all first responders. He also spoke in support of “The Opiate Effect,” a short documentary loosely based on William’s death, which can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/41741770.
I would give everything I own if Will’s roommates had had naloxone in March 2009 when they found him unresponsive. I urge you to encourage your legislators to support LD 1686. The family you save from living the unthinkable might indeed be your own.
Henry “Skip” Gates, Skowhegan
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