The Worst Epidemic You Know Nothing About

According to a teenage friend of my daughter’s with whom I spoke earlier this evening, yet another young person from our town has died of an apparent drug overdose. It happened last night. He came from a loving family, but like my own son, he had struggled with drug addiction off and on since high school. He had apparently been clean for some months, but then something happened. And now he’s gone.

As far as I can tell, his death wasn’t reported in the media today. The odds are low that it ever will be.

Similarly, the apparent overdose death of a lovely 19 year old local college student that took place on April 27, 2010 – the same day my own teenager suffered the overdose that would kill him – also never made the news. Police told her mother that the only information they had to give her came from some people who were hanging around the house where the girl was found dead that morning. According to these individuals – none of whom were known to the girl’s family – the girl simply fell asleep on a sofa in the middle of a party the night before and no one noticed she was dying or dead until mid-morning the next day. Someone called 911. Her mother still has no idea who called for help, or what the police are doing in the way of the investigation they promised her on the day the police chaplain came to her door to deliver the news that her daughter had been found dead in a strange house in another part of town. She still has no autopsy results, although all available evidence points to an overdose.

Last week I was asked to speak at the most prestigious private school in our community on the topic of social media safety rules for middle schoolers. About 50 or 60 parents were in attendance. During my presentation, I shared that I had recently lost my teenage son to a drug overdose. In the week or so since then, I have received several incredibly moving emails from parents who attended the talk, sharing their own stories with me. Each of the parents who emailed me had experienced an overdose by one of their own teenage children, although thankfully, in none of these cases had the teenager in question actually died.

America’s young people are being injured and killed by an escalating epidemic of prescription and opiate drug overdose at an astonishing rate. And I am not just throwing around the word epidemic; I chose that word carefully. An epidemic is defined as a problem that spreads rapidly and extensively, and and affects many individuals in an area or a population at the same time. That’s clearly what we have happening now with the explosive growth in drug overdoses in the United States.

From the story to which I linked above:

A 2005 report by Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) documented the problem. “This report revealed that our nation is in the throes of a growing epidemic of controlled prescription drug abuse involving opioids like OxyContin and Vicodin, depressants like Valium and Xanax, and stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall,” Joseph A. Califano, Jr. CASA Chairman and President, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2007.Just last year advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance stated, “There is an overdose epidemic across the country.”

The numbers are mind boggling and rapidly escalating. Cccording to the Drug Policy Alliance:

“In 2006, more than 26,000 lives were lost in the U.S. to the preventable tragedy of accidental drug overdose. This is the highest number of accidental drug overdoses ever recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This crisis now claims more lives each year than firearms, homicides or HIV/AIDS. Accidental drug overdose is currently the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States for people between the ages of 35-54 and the second leading cause of injury-related death for young people.”

Until my own son overdosed and suffered a fatal brain injury, I was completely clueless as to the extent of this problem. Don’t get me wrong; I knew that drugs are dangerous, and it sure seemed like a lot of celebrities (Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson…) were dying of prescription drug overdoses, but I really had no idea that it was happening here, in my own town, ALL THE TIME.

The primary reason I had no idea of the extent of the overdose problem in my own community is because of the way drug overdoses are treated by medical, law enforcement and prosecuting authorities. For a variety of reasons – many of which might seem to make sense considered in isolation from the others, or outside the context of a problem this urgent – the agencies that deal with drug overdoses – paramedics, law enforcement, physicians and medical examiners – generally treat each individual overdose as a discrete, isolated occurrence. In our community, virtually all overdose injuries and deaths are treated as unfortunate accidents suffered by individuals who bear all responsibility for illegal behaviors they should have known to be risky.

Because overdoses in my community and from what I am learning, many others around the country, are generally treated as private medical events suffered by individuals rather than as potential crimes that have claimed the life of a victim, these deaths rarely garner any media coverage, no matter how suspect the circumstances of the overdose may be. Dead teenager found imid-morning in a strange house with people unrelated to her who have criminal records and who can’t quite explain what happened? If the teen had a gunshot wound, you would hear about it. But if she had needle tracks in her arm, or other telltale signs of overdose, you will never know that she existed – or that she is now gone forever.

Sure there will be some talk of an investigation when the authorities first tell the parents that their child has been found dead. Police may or may not have visited the scene of the overdose, but it almost certainly wasn’t secured or treated per official crime scene protocols. After that phone call or knock on the door, the family will wait and wait, and have no idea how to get anyone in authority interested in their junkie kid’s death. People will suggest to the family that they keep the cause of their child’s death private – much like families of early AIDS victims were advised to tell people that their son or daughter had died of cancer.

Nothing in the paper but an obituary – maybe. Nothing in the media at all except very occasionally, maybe two lines on the 6pm newscast saying something like, “Police now say the 18 year old man found dead behind a private residence in the Meadowood Subdivision early Saturday morning died of a drug overdose. No further investigation is expected and the case has been closed.”

The autopsy results and toxicology report will be offered to the grieving family by the authorities as clear evidence that their kid had some kind of death wish. She was addicted to drugs; she died. It happens, and after all, what did anyone expect would happen if she kept using drugs? It was an overdose – an “accidental overdose.” ‘Nuff said. Thus, no prosecution of ANYONE will take place – Not the dealer(s). Not the “pain clinic” that advertises on late night TV. Not the for-profit methadone clinic that allows known local drug suppliers with criminal records to take home large quantities of this incredibly dangerous drug. Not the people at the “party” who knew the teenager was lying on the floor for hours, vomiting, turning blue and gasping for air until she finally died, or became so brain injured that she will be mentally disabled forevermore. It’s over. Done. Another dead addict.

And as for the public, because there is no media coverage – like there would be if more and more of our young people were dying of some infectious disease that continues to spread – we pretty much remain in the dark. We have no idea that the beloved son or daughter of our former coworker or someone with whom we attend church or our child’s second grade teacher just died of an overdose – yet another fatal drug overdose among the hundreds that will kill young Tennesseans this year.

Even though I’ve mentioned the lack of news coverage several times, I don’t blame the media for this lack of community awareness. When the coroner’s office, law enforcement and prosecutors don’t seem to be that motivated to aggressively tackle the epidemic in a strategic, coordinated way, instead of treating each drug death as a single, accidental, non-crime, the media isn’t going to know the extent of the problem. And of course, even if the media DOES question law enforcement officials and the DA’s office about a particular drug overdose death, they are told that it was an accidental death with no potential for prosecution no matter what any investigation might turn up. After all, that 21 year old college student put the pills in his own mouth, right? Now whose fault is that?

Drug use is illegal, yes. Overdoses generally occur when an individual is engaged in illegal, dangerous activity. However, the same argument could be made (but shouldn’t of course) about prostitutes who are beaten, raped, robbed or killed while out working the streets. Prostitutes are engaged in illegal activity that involves significant, quantifiable risk. Yet if a growing number of prostitutes in a given community were being strangled or beaten to death while out working, I seriously doubt that law enforcement or the DA’s office would write the deaths off as the forseeable – even inevitable consequence of their “choice” to break the law and endanger themselves. While I’m certainly not trying to make the case that prostitutes who are killed are always made the highest priority by investigators or prosecutors, I am making the case that if a large and escalating number of prostitutes were dying while breaking the law, the authorities wouldn’t ignore it, or continue to treat each death as an unfortunate and isolated incident with no possible connection to the others.

Since my son died, I have spent many, many hours talking to dozens (probably at least 50) of people who knew Henry and were or still are also involved to some degree with the drug use that killed him. Many of these individuals have come to me, wanting to tell me what they know in hopes that there can be a full investigation and even prosecutions in Henry’s death. In other cases, I’ve banged on doors and followed Facebook rabbit trails until I finally got someone I’d been looking for to speak to me. Most of the time, even the people I had to track down have been willing to share at least some details of Knoxville’s incestuous, deadly prescription drug trade. They feel very bad for my loss, and even if they themselves are addicts, they don’t want to see any more of their friends or acquaintances die. So they tell me things. Based on all of these conversations I’ve had since May 31, there is no doubt in my mind that some if not many of the overdose deaths in Knox County could be traced back to the dealer or dealers that supplied the lethal dose, IF INVESTIGATORS AND PROSECUTORS MADE THIS A REAL PRIORITY. In some cases, I strongly suspect that the SAME dealer or dealers have been behind more than one overdose death.

I strongly favor increased access to drug treatment for addicted individuals. I support more research funding so that we can gain a better medical and scientific understanding of the biology of addiction. I plan to work to see more of the innovative “drug courts” that are helping so many drug addicts get a real shot at sobriety and health. I am working in all kinds of ways now to create more and more effective avenues for educating kids about the dangers of drugs and drug overdose BEFORE they swallow that first Hydrocodone pill or valium from their friend’s grandmother’s cabinet.

BUT I ALSO BELIEVE THAT WHEN SOMEONE DIES AS A RESULT OF INGESTING DRUGS THAT HAVE BEEN ILLEGALLY PROVIDED BY SOMEONE ELSE, THE SUPPLIER OF THE FATAL DRUGS SHOULD BE PROSECUTED.

Perhaps, this idea of treating overdose deaths as potential crimes sounds nutty and farfetched to you – the crazed rantings of a grieving mother seeking to blame someone else for her son’s death. In fact, however, many, many drug dealers and suppliers are being prosecuted for manslaughter or even homicide in jurisdictions all over this country, every year. It just takes a local law enforcement agency and DA with enough passion to take these cases on in the same proactive, professional, strategic way they approach other crimes.

Most states, including my own, have a statute specific to overdose deaths available to prosecutors who care enough to pursue these types of admittedly challenging cases. In Tennessee, homicide by controlled substance is covered under the statute for second degree murder. There is also a federal statute designed for investigating/prosecuting these cases. It’s called the Len Bias Law, and federal drug agents encourage prosecutors to use it as one tool in their toolbox for addressing drug deaths in their jurisdictions. Neither the state or federal statutes covering homicide by controlled substance requires intent to be proved as an element for prosecution.

I really don’t know how many young people from my community have died of drug overdoses in the past six months. Maybe it’s just the three I know of – my son, the 19 year old girl who died on April 27th, and now, the 21 year old college student who died last night. Maybe it’s only been three kids dead in the same way in the same small city in one six month span. I suspect there have been others, but unless some investigative reporter wants to start digging and asking lots of questions, none of us who live here are likely to know how many have died, or whether any of the deaths are truly being investigated with an eye toward actual criminal charges.

But even if it’s only three dead young people since the spring – two beloved sons and one adored daughter dead of a cause that CAN BE PROSECUTED in order to at least try to prevent it from happening in the same way to someone else’s child – well, isn’t that enough?

Enough, I say.

Enough.