BUTLER TWP — In the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Dr. Neil Capretto said 2,996 people died.

Since then, more than 5,000 people in Western Pennsylvania have died of drug overdoses.

“How did we get to this place?” asked Capretto, medical director at Gateway Rehabilitation.

Capretto was one of three speakers Thursday night at an addiction awareness program sponsored by support group Hope For Broken Hearts at the Butler County Community College.

He said a “perfect storm” of a large increase in prescription medication use at the same time as newer, stronger heroin hit the streets caused drug problems.

Capretto said there was a lot of criticism of doctors in the 1990s for not treating pain. At that time, opioid drugs only were used for short-term or end-of-life use.

But soon pharmaceutical companies started marketing opioid drugs, and then doctors started giving out such drugs for minor injuries.

He said that 95 percent of heroin users he sees started by abusing prescription drugs.

One way to help prevent overdose deaths is the use of Narcan, which is a drug that reverses opiate overdoses.

Oftentimes, someone is with an overdose victim, but does not call 911 because he is afraid of getting into trouble. Because of that, the victim can die.

Capretto said that the passage of Act 139 by the state Legislature helps by making Narcan more available and by giving immunity from prosecution to anyone who calls 911 when they see someone overdosing.

He compared Narcan to seat belts or air bags in a vehicle. It is something that no one wants to use, but something that can save a life.

“As long as there is life, there is hope,” Capretto said.

Tim Fennell, the detective who coordinates the county drug task force, said the rise of heroin use changed the way he thought and acted as a police officer.

“What we have in our community is a cancer,” Fennell said.

If society looks at addiction like cancer, he said there is a chance that it might be able to beat it. Like cancer, he said addiction can affect anybody. And he said addicts do not want to be addicts any more than cancer patients want cancer.

Five years ago, the county started a drug treatment court.

“It’s been well worth it,” Fennell said.

He said that the people who participate in the court are “frequent flyers” who have repeated crimes that are a result of their addictions.

They are given a choice to participate in the court or go to state prison. Fennell said some choose to go to prison because of the amount of work it takes to complete the program, including supervision, drug testing, and in-patient and out-patient treatment.

“It’s a lot of effort,” Fennell said.

The court costs a lot of money, but at the end of the day, he said sending someone to prison costs more.

He said he likes seeing graduates of the court out in public and being successful.

“To me, that makes my day; that makes my career worthwhile,” Fennell said.

Linda Franiewski, executive director of the Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center, said 41 people in the county have died of overdoses so far this year. Last year, 34 people died of overdoses.

“It’s unacceptable,” Franiewski said, adding she lost her nephew to an overdose in July.

She said the criminalization of drug use over the past 40 years has been a failure, and said only 11.2 percent of people with drug and alcohol issues are getting treatment.

Franeiwski said that attitudes about treating addiction often involve sending people with full-blown heroin addiction only to outpatient treatment, or telling someone who was treated but relapsed that they already had their treatment.

“Well, that’s a failure,” Franeiwski said.

She said everyone needs to shift their thinking, looking at addiction as a chronic medical condition.

“And you know what? It’s treatable,” Franiewski said.