ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An ever-growing heroin addiction problem in Alaska has placed a strain on drug clinics that are not receiving enough funding to keep up with the influx of patients.
Police said they are making more heroin-related arrests and paramedics are responding to more serious drug calls now than ever before, according to the Anchorage Press.
Ron Greene, clinical director at the Center for Drug Problems, said that there aren’t enough places for addicts to turn. He thought that with an increase of more than $200,000 in state funding would help, but clinics can’t keep up with the rising amount of addicts that need help.
The Center for Drug Problems is currently serving 108 patients on a budget intended for just 100. He said most who come to the clinic are trying to kick heroin, which is by far the most popular drug in the state.
“Heroin is cheap and it’s in abundance,” Green said. “It has been epidemic in Alaska, especially in Anchorage.”
While police say that heroin use has been at the center of many violent crimes, paramedics told the Anchorage Press that people from every walk of life become addicts.
“Lately, we have been pulling people out of cars,” said Michael Crotty, paramedic and chief medical officer of the Anchorage Fire Department. “They are looking for a private place to use heroin, and if they have a car, that gives them privacy.”
Crotty added that some overdose patients look to be as young as college students.
“I have saved an awful lot of overdose patients, some of them more than once,” he said.
The city’s most recent data reports that 71 people died from overdose in 2008-2009.
While paramedics carry naloxone, the overdose antidote, only some clinics carry methadone, a drug that helps to stop cravings.
The Clinic for Drug Problems dispenses methadone, but Green said that although his clinic has been open since the 1970s, he is unsure if state clinics will be able to help all those in need without more funding.