OLEAN, N.Y. — Cattaraugus County heroin overdoses have decreased in early fall — something attributed to several large drug busts, the Cattaraugus County Board of Health learned.
Public Health Director Dr. Kevin Watkins said the decrease in heroin overdoses has been accompanied by an increase in methamphetamine labs.
“The sheriff’s department (recently) reported several large busts,” Watkins said. “That may be the reason for the decreases in overdoses.”
Overall, Watkins is pleased with the progress being made through the Heroin/Opioid Task Force created earlier this year. He said he is disappointed more local treatment beds haven’t materialized yet.
The state’s new requirement limiting opioid prescriptions to seven days instead of 30 should also help limit future abuse, the public health director said.
Watkins said the Council on Addiction Recovery Services has an application to add 20 beds to the 32 local treatment and recovery beds it now offers in the Olean area.
The fate of the application, to the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, should be known by early 2017, Watkins said. If approved, the new beds could be available in six to eight months.
The crisis of addiction to heroin and other opioids has touched so many people that there is a shortage of treatment beds.
Working through the Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative, several area law enforcement agencies, including the Salamanca and Gowanda police departments and Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office, have begun referring addicts who ask for help to beds in out-of-state treatment centers.
The Council on Addiction Recovery Services is also working with the Olean General Hospital emergency room to speak with addicts who overdose and are brought to the hospital, Watkins said. Addicts are asked if they wish to voluntarily enter rehabilitation, he explained.
Watkins issued data on the use of Narcan, an opioid overdose antidote, that showed 92 doses of Narcan administered by the county’s EMTs and other first responders for the first nine months of this year. There were 53 doses administered in all of 2015.
In 2015, 11 people required a second dose to regain consciousness, while 31 were revived with one dose of Narcan. This year, through September, 28 people required a second dose of Narcan, and seven needed a third dose.
Watkins said he looked into sharing a heroin hotline with Erie County, but at $15,000 to $20,000 a year, it was deemed too expensive. Erie County also runs a heroin hotline for Chautauqua County. Other options are being explored, he said.
Another initiative — hiring a case manager to coordinate addiction and recovery resources in the county — has been put on hold, Watkins said, to await word of a grant. TheOffice of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services is offering Cattaraugus, Allegany and Chautauqua counties a family navigator and a peer adviser to oversee addiction resources.
