Data show that the number of overdose deaths in Ohio is decreasing, but for drug-affected families, this is not fast enough.
Nearly 5,000 people died in Ohio from drug overdoses last year, and treatment centers are stepping up their efforts to help.
Daniel Cottner served a ten-year sentence for drug-related crimes.
“I came into contact with people related to the past and was messing around with drugs that I thought were like Vicodin and stuff, but they weren’t, they were fentanyl,” according to Cottner.
He became addicted to fentanyl.
“If I don’t use the restroom in 20 minutes and snort a pill, I suppose I’ll start getting sick. That’s how it feels psychologically, you know? And you can’t easily get out of that,” Cottner explained.
It is the reason he is receiving counseling and a different type of medication to help.
“I’ve been tapering down, you know, it is my intention to eventually not have to use methadone any more,” Cottner told me.
He is being treated at Community Medical Services, which is located in West Chester, just outside of Cincinnati.
Stephanie Bryant serves as the treatment center’s regional impact manager. She said it’s one of ten centers in Ohio, and more are being added.
“We opened a new clinic in Akron to combat the opioid crisis. “There have been so many fentanyl overdoses and overdoses in general,” Bryant said.
She stated that they are targeting areas with limited to no access to addiction treatment.
“I’ve lived experience with substance use disorder, so I’m a certified peer recovery supporter and even when the court was telling me that I had to be abstinent, I could not do it,” says Bryant.
For thousands of people, it can be too late.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, nearly 4,500 people died from drug overdoses last year, but with more treatment facilities and addicts recovering, they hope to change that.
“To stop and like assess that and then break it down and then figure out what you have to do different is hard, but also it gives you a different kind of power,” Cottner told me.
If you or someone you know is suffering from drug addiction, and would like more information about these treatment centers, click here.
