Officers Battle Symptoms of Drug Crisis on the Street

A man ran out of an abandoned Centralia house Tuesday afternoon, flagged down a motorist and exclaimed that his girlfriend was overdosing on heroin.

A 911 call hit the dispatch center, and Centralia Police Officer John Dorff rushed to the scene.

The man who first raised the alarm, a transient, led Dorff into the house, navigating into a room where the couple had been camping out.

“The female was laying on the floor. Very, very shallow breathing. Drenched in sweat. Unresponsive,” said Dorff.

He rubbed his knuckles hard on the woman’s sternum. It’s a simple way to determine whether or not someone is conscious, he said. A responsive person is sure to react to the uncomfortable stimulus.

Before entering the house, and before even exiting his squad car, Dorff slipped a dose of Narcan in his pocket. The drug, otherwise known by generic name Naloxone, reverses the symptoms of an opioid overdose. Dorff keeps two packs in the car and, depending on the type of call, will bring the doses with him if they might be necessary.

He gave the young woman a dose. It’s a simple process, he said — likening it to a nasal allergy spray. Some types of the drug require injection, but Centralia officers only carry the spray. Typically, said Dorff, injections pack a higher dosage, which can result in the victim waking up violently, Dorff had heard.

That’s not exactly the case for the nasal spray variety. The young woman, about a minute after, started to stir. She was groggy, but conscious and seemingly aware.

By about that time, Riverside Fire Authority medics rolled onto the scene. They took it from there.

This was Dorff’s second time deploying Narcan in the field since officers in Lewis County started carrying the opioid antidote in September 2017.

He was actually the first officer in the county to administer a dose.

“I’ve used Narcan twice now. It was successful both times. There was someone else on scene that was using drugs with the person that was ultimately revived. So it makes that diagnosis a little easier when they say, ‘Hey, they shot up with some hot heroin and now they’re dead or dying,” said Dorff.

Individual officers’ intervention represents one part of a complex drug crisis that has dominated headlines on a national, state and local level. In the midst of what has often been dubbed an “opioid epidemic,” the numbers of those killed by accidental overdoses in Lewis County tends to stay in the single digits.

In 2017, seven people in Lewis County died of accidental drug overdoses. Two of those deaths were associated with opiates and the other five from methamphetamine. Meth and heroin have dominated the local drug scene in terms of popularity on the street for the past few years, said Police Chief Carl Nielsen in an email to The Chronicle. Since taking over his current role in 2015, Nielsen said the two drugs “are running about even.”

The previous year, 2016, saw three deaths — one from an unidentified opiate, one from meth and the other from heroin, according to Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris.

Harris said these numbers are pretty average for the area, where overdose deaths generally stay in the single digits on a yearly basis.

Lewis County had 13 fatal overdoses in 2011, five in 2012, five in 2013, nine in 2014 and seven in 2015.

2018’s numbers have been tougher to track, due to an extreme backup at the Washington State Patrol laboratory. The lab has been slammed with cases involving marijuana-involved DUIs. According to a statement from the coroner’s office, non-criminal death investigations pending toxicology play second fiddle to an active criminal investigation.

Harris said there were three accidental overdose deaths in Lewis County in the first quarter of the year — the most up-to-date figure the office has, given the delay from the state lab.

As for law enforcement, often the first to emergency scenes, a consistently evolving and more lethal drug scene means extra caution is called for. Some cutting agents are known to cause burning sensations upon the most unassuming contact.

“From my officers’ perspective, they police as usual. However, with the introduction of Fentanyl as a cutting agent, they have to be more cautious when handling suspected heroin (and now other drugs that are being cut as well) to avoid exposure,” wrote Nielsen in an email. “From a law enforcement perspective, the increase in the number of people becoming addicted to opioids is a challenge. Not only from the crime associated with feeding the addiction (property crimes), but also from a safety issue for my staff as well as the community members we serve. We frequently receive complaints of used hypodermic syringes being discarded in public locations, many times in parks where families and children are playing. Add to the equation the rising costs associated with treatment, it has truly become a challenge for communities across the nation who face the same issues.”

Lewis County law enforcement started carrying Narcan roughly one year ago, made possible by a $3,000 grant awarded to the Lewis County Public Health and Social Services — an initiative not without its contention. Two public comments left on an online Chronicle article on the development read: “So whats next, a safe shooting space?? SMH” and “Great! Another safety net. Thanks Obama! SMH.”

A press release from the Public Health and Social Services department distributed to local media just after the grant was obtained reads that law enforcement are often on scene prior to any other emergency service like medical aid. Narcan allows them to act to save an overdosing person’s life before medical personnel arrive, says the press release.

It also says there are no adverse effects if someone not overdosing on an opioid-based drug receives a dose.

The department is aware of five doses being used by law enforcement so far in 2018.