health

on the cover

Opioid
Fallout

LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Detroit’s Jewish
community feels
the pain of the
drug epidemic.

Dr. Ljubisa
Dragovic

I

n this community, as in many, it is a secret — one that is visible the person who dies, it is 100 percent.”
The Michigan Department of Community Health claims other
all over this country, yet remains below the surface and hidden.
counties have experienced even more deaths by opioid overdose
Nationwide, in 2016, approximately 64,000 people died from
drug overdoses (many from natural and synthetic opioids, but also than Oakland County. Benzie County on the west side of the state
ranks highest for opioid-only related deaths.
from heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines), according to pro-
But where can you find news about opioid addiction in the
visional data from the National Center for Health Statistics. More
greater Detroit Jewish community? One knowledgeable observer
died from drugs than from traffic crashes. More died from drugs
advises, “Look in the obituaries. When you find someone who died
than from firearms. Drug overdoses remain the leading cause of
young with no cause of death listed, then you might have found an
death for Americans under age 50.
opioid victim. That, or a suicide.”
In Michigan, as in most other states, according to the Centers
Not only young people die from these drugs. People of any age
for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, the death rate from opioid
drugs nearly doubled between 2010 and 2015. Michigan went from get prescriptions for drugs to deal with dental surgery or post-
operative pain. When the crisis ends, most people stop taking the
444 to 884 deaths annually during that period. President Donald
drugs. Some never stop. People get prescriptions for chronic pain
Trump announced his intention to declare opioid addiction a
(see sidebar) and carefully take just enough to keep their
national emergency earlier this year.
lives on track. Others graduate to full addiction. People
Opioids are a class of drugs that includes the illegal
who cannot get the prescription drugs they crave can buy
drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pre-
the drugs on the street.
scription painkillers such as morphine, hydrocodone and
The drugs also endanger babies. Local pediatrician
codeine.
Leonard Pollack says, “In pediatrics, we see newborns who
Oakland County Medical Examiner and pathologist
come into the world addicted. When we cut the umbilical
Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic reports that opioids are involved in
cord, the drug supply gets cut off and the baby has drug
increasingly high percentages of local deaths. “When I
started 27 years ago, we hardly saw one overdose death
withdrawal.”
per week. Now, there is hardly a day without someone
All this happens in our Jewish community, where it
Dr. Leonard
makes no news. Addicts in the Jewish community do
dying from abusing drugs. Whatever the death rate is, for Pollack

continued on page 52

50

October 26 • 2017

jn

