elections

Danae Columbus: Opioid epidemic is evident everywhere — even the car wash

By |

A quick visit to a Mid-City car wash recently became an unexpected lesson for me in the deadly prevalence of our nation’s opioid epidemic when two quick-thinking customers realized that an unresponsive couple whose car was still running had just overdosed. Within minutes of placing 911 calls, a plethora of police, fire and EMS personnel arrived to administer the live-saving drug Naloxone, an antidote medication that reverses opiate overdoses.

The NOPD began carrying Naloxone in October 2016 after the City of New Orleans received a $300,000 federal grant and Mayor Landrieu introduced a new “sweeping plan” to address the crisis. In 2016 Louisiana was one of 8 states that had more opioid prescriptions than people. That same year, over 1,000 Louisiana residents died from an overdose of opioids, surpassing the number of deaths from motor vehicles accidents, homicides or suicides. While many cancer and terminally ill patients are regularly prescribed such medication, they account for only 20 percent of patients who receive it.