Middletown, OH considering three strike, you’re out program for overdoses- Should Columbus?
Three strikes, you’re out systems work in many different situations but will it work with heroin addicts?
Middletown, Ohio is tampering with the idea. Middletown is just north of Cincinnati and is feeling the effects of the heroin epidemic. Bad. The expenses to revive overdosed heroin users with Narcan are stacking up, already exceeding costs from last year. The number of overdoses there is soaring above total numbers in 2016 and we’re only half way through the year.
They want–need– to do something to unbury themselves.
Middletown is considering implementing a system that gives consequences to people who overdose. Your first two strikes are free–they’ll revive you with Narcan no matter what. After that, you would be obligated to complete a certain amount of community service hours to cover the expense of the overdose reversing drug. If you overdose a third time and authorities identify you as one that has been a part of the program for two previous overdoses and has not completed the required community service hours, then you’re out.
Out as in dead.
This proposal has only just been introduced. While this plot brews, the Middletown fire department has been applying for grants for Narcan funding.
Would this system be playing god? Is it okay to allow someone to die if they don’t take responsibility for their addiction? Is this the way to solve the opioid epidemic? Should Columbus start having this conversation?
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