Over the past decade, opioid drug use has escalated into a crisis across the nation. In 2012, the Alaska opioid overdose rate was two times the rate in the remainder of the United States. Alaska’s heroin-associated overdose death rate was over 50% higher than the national rate.
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, prescription pills are the third most abused substance by children. Considering the top two are marijuana and alcohol, the most widely abused substances on the planet, this is an alarming fact! Plus, kids aren’t just taking pills to get high, they’re using them to sleep, study, relieve pain and increase energy levels. So, for many reasons, pill abuse among kids is rampant!
The most common place where these pills are abused is in our own homes. Think about your own residence, do you have old medication in your medication cabinet that you no longer take? Do you have old pain medications such as hydrocodone or oxycodone that was never taken? If these got into the wrong hands, the results could be devastating!
Ruth Nelson, Safety Officer with CLES, partnered with the Alaska DHSS to obtain Drug Disposal Kits to help attack the opioid crisis locally.
We have received hundreds of drug disposal bags. These are small bags that allow individuals to empty their pill bottles, add a small amount of water and seal. The bags then render the drugs useless to the point that they can no longer be ingested and can simply be discarded in the trashcan as they are completely eco-friendly.
Ruth Nelson, Safety Officer, CLES
Secondly, CLES received a number of opioid overdose kits. These kits contain items to treat victims of potential opioid overdoses including intranasal Narcan, disposable gloves, & drug testing swabs. We have placed these in local businesses in the event that an overdose victim shows up and they can be treated immediately on the spot, before EMS arrives. Opioid overdoses cause patients to stop breathing, often resulting in death. The Narcan included in the drug overdose kit can immediately block the effects of opioids and help the patient to start breathing again.
The drug disposal bags, and opioid overdose kits are available to community members here in Cooper Landing. We do not judge! If you have an opioid addiction, we encourage you to always keep an opioid overdose kit on hand. Please contact Cooper Landing Emergency Services at 907–595–1800 or via email at operations.cles@arctic.net or stop by our station at 38748 Snug Harbor Rd. if you’re interested in picking up any drug disposal bags and/or opioid overdose kits.
Also, If you are a local business and would like to keep an opioid overdose kit on hand, we will be glad to supply one at any time. Volunteers are more than willing to train staff on these kits to provide a safe and effective course of action before an ambulance is even on the way. By providing these tools, we hope that at least 1 life will be saved as a result of these efforts!
