Officer sees change since opioid outbreak
In his 31 years in law enforcement, Mark Pfeffer has noticed a disturbing trend.
As a younger officer, he would hear an overdose call over his radio, followed by the lights and sirens.
He could also hear the urgency, which in recent years has subsided.
“It's so sad now to hear the routineness of that,” he said. “It's almost like a barking dog complaint. ... Of course the rush is there, but it's too routine.”
Pfeffer, chief deputy of the Butler County Sheriff's Office, this week spoke to members of the Rich-Mar Rotary Club, outlining the heroin and opioid epidemic and how local law enforcement officials are battling it. The routineness shows not just in the urgency, but also in hard numbers.
“Seventy-four lives were lost last year due to overdoses, and I think once all the (toxicology) screens are in for 2017, we'll be in the ballpark of 90,” he said of Butler County.
The trend of addiction is unlike anything Pfeffer has seen in his career, same for the crack cocaine problem of the early 1990s. The difference, he said, is the number of people who become addicted unintentionally.
“There is a growing population that are prescribed medications to begin with ... as a painkiller,” he said. “More and more people become addicted from a legal use to begin with. They make a few errors with it, or overmedicate either intentionally or unintentionally.”
Because of the unintentional factor, officers have had to review the way in which they handle overdose cases. Pfeffer said being empathetic to a situation is key.
“We may not be able to understand it ... because we've never been there,” he said. “But those that have, we have find a way to connect with them. That's not the same as throwing the book at them”
He cited a pilot program in Cranberry Township, that would send a team consisting of a counselor, medic and law enforcement officer to meet with the person and their family following an overdose.
“They're giving them options ... when they're not under the effects of the opioid,” he said, adding there is hope to expand the program countywide. “If it helps save a few lives, it's worth it. We can't arrest our way out of this problem. It's an impossibility.”
Pfeffer did stress, however, that those selling drugs in Butler County will not be shown such empathy via the 'Not In My Backyard' initiative.
“Any person that comes into this community ... to make money off this, selling it to those that are so desperate from addiction, when we have a chance to put them in our sights, we've got to do it,” he said. “We're going to get as stiff a sentence against you as possible.”
The mental approach to an overdose is not the only thing that has changed. Since 2015, officers have been using Naloxone, an overdose reversal drug that is administered by nasal spray.
Pfeffer said since then, use has expanded to other first responders, hospitals, libraries, shelters and even certain attorneys and public defenders. Law enforcement in Butler County have used the product 63 times.
“That's 63 lives potentially turned around and saved,” he said, adding that there is no tracking system in place for other entities using the drug. “I can't get a number for you because there's so many different people using it, but its an amazing number.”
The drug can also be used on those who have been exposed to opioids or fentanyl accidentally, particularly first responders.
“Law enforcement are carrying Naloxone in their cars just like they carry fire extinguishers, pretty much for the same reason: to put out that fire of an overdose,” he said.
While acknowledging that the use of Naloxone has been controversial, Pfeffer again pointed to empathy.
“I would love to be able to tell you (Naloxone) ... can reverse the overdose, and then you don't want to do it again,” he said. “The curse of addiction isn't that way. It can take anywhere from 1-to-3 years after stopping the drug to get back to a healthy state. That's why you hear so many people need repeated reversals.”
Pfeffer said the most important way to stop the epidemic is to do so on the smallest level — in one's own home.
“I would be surprised if anybody in this room could honestly raise their hand and say they ... haven't been affected by a drug overdose in one way or the other,” he said. “The bottom line ... is nobody — nobody — is immune from this epidemic.”
