Heroin use may be on the rise in Grant County

MOSES LAKE — Substance abuse problems in Grant County are more likely to involve alcohol, methamphetamine and marijuana than heroin, but the county has not escaped the growing trend of opioid addiction, according to local health and social service agencies.

The subject of opioid addiction, both illegal drugs like heroin and prescription drugs like oxycodone, has drawn national attention as addiction numbers have risen, especially in rural areas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a grant that will be available to land-grant universities to come up with outreach and treatment programs targeted at rural areas.

In 2010-11 there were no heroin overdose deaths in Grant County, but in 2012-14 there were three, said Shantae Sackett of the Grant County Health District. There is not much data available yet for 2015, Sackett said, and that makes it more difficult to determine what substances are being used and abused, and how often. “There is probably a heroin problem in Grant County,” she added.

The Grant County Prevention and Recovery Center (PARC) works with people who are in treatment for substance abuse. “While alcohol, marijuana and meth are still the drugs we see the most, we are definitely seeing an increase in heroin,” wrote PARC’s Wendy Hanover. “Individuals have stated that heroin is cheaper and easier to get than many of the other opiates (Percocet, Oxycodone, et cetera). Our clients who struggle with an opiate addiction are some of the sickest we see and often have great difficulty with treatment and recovery.”

“It’s happening in Grant County,” Sackett said.

In 2010 about 1.8 percent of the people coming to PARC reported using heroin, Hanover said. In 2015 that rose to 12.7 percent.

Changes in the way doctors treated chronic pain led to a sharp increase in addiction problems and overdoses from prescription opioids, Sackett said. That prompted Washington officials to reexamine the rules for prescription opioids, and eventually to start a registry for patients seeking opioid prescriptions.

In the wake of those changes prescription opioid deaths (as opposed to heroin) dropped from 9.2 per 100,000 people in Grant County in 2009-11 to 4.1 per 100,000 people in the county in 2012-14, according to statistics from the health district. But heroin overdose deaths increased.

To combat that the health district passed a resolution urging the creation of a needle exchange program. Health district officials also are considering a campaign to educate people about heroin and opioid use and prevent it if possible.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.