Opioid Addiction in the Coachella Valley

The United States has a deadly addiction to a class of pain medication. The U.S. alone consumes 99 percent of the entire world’s supply of Vicodin.

Despite the fact that doctors are prescribing fewer opioids, we still haven’t seen changes in the number of overdoses. The epidemic is killing more people than guns or cars, claiming the lives of 115 Americans a day, according to the Center for Disease Control.

Not all abusers look like addicts in dark alleyways.

“I’ve seen so many people that you would never imagine that that person has an issue,” said Jessica Sanchez, licensed therapist & clinical director at Refinery Integrated Wellness.

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Experts say most heroin addicts don’t even start with syringes.

“Roughly 75% of heroin users start with prescription pills they get from their own medicine cabinets or family or friends’ medicine cabinets,” said Daniel Dobas, group supervisor for the DEA Task Force Palm Springs.

“You will come across the early 20-something who started out with Vicodin for a car accident then he was no longer needing the prescriptions, so he went to the street to buy some pain meds. And when the dealer no longer had pain meds, they switched to heroin,” Sanchez added.

While heroin and its synthetic form “Fentanyl” are known illicit killers, 40% of opioid deaths are from common, prescription pills.

“They got injured and okay, ‘I just need a pill I gotta go back to work’ and then, unfortunately, they get to where they say, ‘Okay I need more pills and more pills and more pills,'” said Dr. Roland Reinhart, a local pain management specialist.

Reinhart says there are alternative and revolutionary pain treatments available.

“There are much better advances,” Reinhart said. “We can actually put nerves to sleep for months at a time.”

But many patients said they would rather stick to the meds instead of actually fixing the problem, an indication of a pill’s power over a person. You might begin to develop a craving for the drug after just 3 to 5 days of taking an opioid.

“Once it starts seeing that as part of the chemistry, the body kind of wants that,” Reinhart said.

But addiction withdrawal symptoms aren’t just physical…they’re emotional.

“I haven’t met an opioid addict or meth addict or alcoholic who hasn’t experienced the insatiable dark feeling of loneliness,” said Gregory Gomez, a licensed marriage and family therapist.

Gomez was just 17 when he became an addict. Now he is a licensed therapist using his past to help others. He recommends the over the counter medication Narcan to opioid addicts.

“it’s an opiate blocker and it has saved many, many lives,” Gomez said.

Experts also warn valley parents of a dangerous trend they’ve seen in teens.

“They have these parties and kids will just dump these pills in a bowl and just take them to see if they can feel different,” Reinhart said.

Experts urge parents and grandparents to lock up their pills and to look for signs such as sudden changes in behavior, friend groups or sleeping patterns.

“Parents are often in denial, not looking for the signs or even ignoring the signs,” said Kelly Battaglia, a licensed marriage and family therapist.

Battaglia also recommends properly disposing of unused prescriptions.

“Don’t keep a stockpile of it because kids will access it,” Battaglia said.

Last month, President Donald Trump signed new opioid legislation aiming to combat the crisis by making it easier for patients to receive addiction treatment and promoting research to find new, non-addictive painkillers.