People USA — August 21, 2017

HEROIN ON

THE STREETS

Nearly 1.5 million

Americans were

arrested on drug

charges in 2015,

many heroin-

related. To raise

awareness of the

toll heroin takes

on families, Ohio

police released

a photo (right,

September 2016)

of unconscious

adults overdosed

with a child in

the car.

DIES OF

AN OVERDOSE

EVERY

10 MINUTES

remembers a childhood scarred by uncertainty

and fear. “We were supported by our grandparents,

aunts, who really stepped in and helped a lot,” she

recalls. “There was a lot of chaos, but it made me

more empathetic and understanding.” Now she’s

found herself on the front lines of the heroin epi-

demic. After witnessing an overdose on library

property, Kowalski was trained, along with 25

other staffers, to administer Narcan, a nasal spray

used for the emergency treatment of opioid over-

doses. In the past year she has saved six lives. “It’s

really upsetting to watch someone gasp for air and

to consciously know that they’re dying,” she says.

“Once we can tell the Narcan works, there’s a huge

sense of relief. It provides me with hope that if they

live, they have the opportunity to seek treatment,

because long-term recovery is possible.”

Law-enforcement agencies admit the struggle to

cope with the effects of the epidemic is overwhelm-

ing. “This is a devastating problem that affects

people at all levels,” says Maury Richards, chief of

the Martinsburg Police Department in West Vir-

ginia. “Not only people who are addicted but their

families, schools. It’s a tremendous burden on our

health care and first responders. If it’s not turned

around, it’s going to unravel our entire society.”

First responders often find themselves at risk

as well. “We send medics, firefighter personnel

and police,” says Phil Plummer, sheriff of Mont-

gomery County, Ohio. “If they open a bag of fen-

1

PERSON

PEOPLE August 21, 2017 63

Frank Pucciarelli, 18 Samuel Greenberg, 28 Jeffrey Baldwin, 30 Charles Liberto, 37 Jamie Pasch, 31 Micheal Perry, 21 Edward McCloskey Jr., 56

Michelle Sepulveda, 35 Ryan Taylor, 26 Samuel Christie, 33 Sarah Weant, 28 Frankie Reeves, 23 Stephen Shaner, 31 Timothy Ball, 20

TOP, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DANI MOSCHELLA/DELRAY POLICE DEPARTMENT; CITY OF EASTLIVERPOOL/ZUMA; TOMS RIVER POLICE DEPARTMENT; VICTIMS: COURTESY FAMILY & FRIENDS