Making an immediate difference in Tyler, TX

tl;dr. Here is the shortest version: I'm asking for tax-deductible donations to buy an incinerator for local law enforcement so we can keep doing prescription-drug-take-back events in Tyler. GoFundMe HERE.

To me, one of the craziest things about ending up working in youth drug prevention is the scope of the work I get to try to do. You have to take a huge, big-picture view of things, or else you will feel discouraged and give up. I mean, the whole "War on Drugs" was declared by President Nixon in 1971, a full year before I was born, and here we are 43 years later still trying to impact things in some meaningful way.

The thing is, if I didn't believe that there are things we can to to make Tyler a better place to live, I would work in some other field. But there are things we can do, right now, that can potentially protect kids and make Tyler safer, drug-wise.

Prescription Drug Abuse is a Growing Problem

The CDC has declared Prescription Drug Abuse an epidemic, especially thanks to increases in prescribing opioidpain relievers – drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone and fentanyl – which are driving the dramatic increase in overdose deaths over the last decade.  Opioid pain reliever overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999. Inadvertent overdose has by surpassed automobile accidents to become the leading cause of injury death in the country. Often, people become hooked on Prescription pain relievers only to move to street Heroin once their prescriptions are finally nixed. This is a real problem, partly caused by the systems we have in place; I have heard of local doctors bypassing new prescription rules, which were put in place to attempt to curb abuse, by prescribing Tylenol with codeine instead of pure opiods. Medical professionals bypassing rules is one reason so many opioids are on the streets in the first place.

Prescription Drugs in the Home

How can having extra Prescription drugs lying about be a problem? Directly, children and thieves have easier access to drugs that are not actively being taken. Poison Control lists 286 calls regarding overdoses of cold medicines, and 464 regarding painkillers between 2009 and 2012, and I personally know of two cases where elderly people's medicine cabinets have been robbed of old painkillers. What's worse, I have known three individuals who have passed away from accidental overdoses of painkillers; these were intelligent, capable people, and in two cases the pills were prescribed to the users, but that's how dangerous opioids can be.

DEA Prescription Drug Take-back Events

Since 2010, the Drug Enforcement Agency has sponsored biannual Prescription Drug Take-back events in communities all over the US. Originally, DEA Agents would be present with local law enforcement in the Spring and Fall and collect voluntary citizen donations. They would then send the drugs to incinerators (Tyler drugs went to Dallas) and dispose of them. This was a costly effort, taking both time and money, but it was thought to have made a difference, and served to educate citizens as well as to remove substances from the streets. After holding events twice each year for four years, the DEA held their final event this past September 27th, citing budgetary reasons. Their hope is, now, that local law enforcement will take over serving communities with events.

I get the need. So, what can I do?

Local law enforcement wants to keep taking in prescription drugs, but this kind of purchase simply isn't in their budgets, and paying for outside incineration is ultimately cost-prohibitive. The East Texas Substance Abuse Coalition  is hoping that the Greater Tyler, Texas community will respond to this need by joining together to purchase a Drug Terminator, a portable, small-batch drug incinerator, for local law enforcement. 

Police incineration is the safest, most effective way for leftover drugs to be disposed of (flushing pills down the toilet further endangers the community by mucking up the water supply). I will launch a GoFundMe campaign and ask that Tylerites join with me in raising money to get this tool for law enforcement--if we can make this purchase happen, we can keep having these events, well into the future. Any tax-deductible gift you can spare will continue to help this community, year after year. If you can help in this effort, visit our GoFundMe Campaign page, and share it, if you will.

And if this fundraising works in Tyler, I will go into Henderson and Jacksonville, Athens, and Canton and see if their law enforcement is as keen to keep things going as Tyler's is, and we will do it all again, there.

Thank you!

CVS Offers Drop Boxes to Law Enforcement

CCVS is giving law enforcement Prescription Drug lock-boxes (usually about $900 each) completely free; the application is HERE: http://www.cvs.com/content/safer-communities. They are doing this because the DEA has ceased their involvement in local Prescription Drug Take-Back events—they ran the events for something like 11 years. Now, it is up to local law enforcement (and local citizens) to pick up the slack and set up systems to collect and properly dispose of unused Prescription Drugs.

Proper disposal is NOT flushing them down the toilet! That action will potentially impact our community’s water supply. Instead, the FDA recommends law enforcement incineration as the best option, followed by taking the medicines out of their marked bottles, mixing them with undesirable waste (like used kitty litter), and throwing them in the trash. Both of these methods should help keep dangerous drugs out of the hands of kids and other unintended users.

I certainly plan on doubling-down on law enforcement incineration.

Graphic created by the Seminole Prevention Coalition

Texas has the eighth lowest prescription drug overdose mortality rate in the United States, with 9.6 deaths per 100,000 people, but that rate is up 78% since 1999, when the rate was 5.4 deaths per 100,000. The CDC calls Prescription Drug abuse the “fastest growing drug problem in the United States”—Personally, I know of three elderly people who have had acquaintances (or strangers, in one of the three cases) ask to use their restrooms, and then steal prescription pain killers (and jewelry) during the visit.

Please spread the word to any law enforcement you know so they can take advantage of CVS’ generosity.

Alcohol Compliance Checks

Compliance checks, also known as “stings,” involve an underage operative (a “decoy”), working with either law enforcement officials or agents from the TABC, who enters an alcohol retail establishment and tries to purchase an alcoholic beverage from a server, bartender, or clerk. Typically, the decoy is observed by an undercover enforcement officer. Audio and video recording equipment may also be used or required.
 

If a purchase is made successfully, the establishment and/or the clerk or server may be subject to an administrative or criminal penalty.
 

Why Do Compliance Checks?
 

It may sound mean to trick a merchant and then punish him for his mistake. However, the stakes are high, and delaying youth exposure to/use of alcohol can help young people avoid early exposure to alcohol. There are good reasons why it is illegal for people under age 21 to purchase alcohol. For example, when the drinking age was 18, many more youths were killed and injured in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes.

 

Too often, early drinking brings with it many problems other than health/brain development issues. Researchers report that when younger people drink they experience:

• More unplanned teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and unplanned sex.
• More assaults, vandalism, and violence.
• Increased problems in school and work.

Additionally, there is strong correlation between early exposure to alcohol and developing alcohol dependence later in life (see the graph below).
 

 

Simply upholding existing laws that prohibit retail alcohol sales to minors goes a long way towards keeping East Texas safe for youth despite the recent increase in retail availability.
 

Compliance checks are most effective when they are frequent, well publicized, and well designed, and when they solicit community support and impose penalties on the licensed establishment, rather than just on the server. Frequent Compliance Checks result in an environment where merchants do the right thing, which in turn reduces youth alcohol-related problems within the community.
 

Compliance checks have both educational and behavior-change goals:

• They change/reinforce social norms that underage drinking is not acceptable by publicizing non-compliant retailers.
• They educate the community, including parents, educators, and policymakers, about the ready availability of alcohol to youth, which may not be considered a major issue.
• They help increase alcohol retailers’ perception that violation of sales to minors laws will be detected and punished, creating a deterrent effect.

October Coalition Meeting Set

East Texas Substance Abuse Coalitions' October meeting is set for Tuesday, October 21. We will meet at Cotton Patch Cafe (click HERE for map link) from 11:30 until 1:00.

On the agenda for this month:

I will tell you guys about an opportunity for us to impact the community in partnership with local law enforcement. Also, I will share a new presentation I have produced about "newer" drugs.

As always, coalition members may have other good things to share.

See you next Tuesday!

Know Your Drugs: K2, Spice & Cloud 9

The world of Synthetic Cannabinoids is populated by various products that most of us would never have considered smoking. Under various brand names (including Spice and K2 [click here for NIDA Drugfacts on K2]), small packets marked as "Potpourri," "Not for human consumption," Liquid Potpourri," and "Strongest Incense Ever Made" show up at the neighborhood head shop, and even at your neighborhood Exxon station.
 

Some people will smoke ANYTHING!

When you think about it, running across a packet of "potpourri" at a service station should seem pretty unusual, especially if you relate potpourri with your aged Aunt Agnes' perfumed bathroom. Yet there is is, and people of all ages are buying and smoking these "air fresheners" every day, often with terrible consequences.

Spice/K2

What these consumers know that you and I might not is that these products were made for smoking [click link for Longview News Journal article]. They are synthetic cannabinoids, meant to legally offer the same results as marijuana--though not identical to marijuana. Their effects are more volatile and potentially negative. At their worst,  use of these substances may precipitate psychosis—people show up in the ER, after smoking, suffering severe and unpredictable results, including hypertension, tachycardia, myocardial infarction, agitation, vomiting, hallucinations, acute psychoses, seizures, convulsions and panic attacks.

Legally?

Rah-Rho, Raggy...

Well, technically legally. Ordinances and laws have been passed against certain versions, but all the manufacturers have to do is alter the chemical makeup of Scooby Snax Potpourri, for example, and it becomes legal again. A coalition-member friend of mine in law enforcement says that it is very difficult to charge someone with selling K2 because they can defend it as NOT the same substance that is outlawed (even now that there has been a state law outlawing it). The bad guys get up pretty early in the morning, and they are geniuses with chemistry.

"100% Legal!" Methinks they protest too much!

Cloud 9 and E-Cigs

Spice and K2 are small packets of organic matter, like bits of twigs and herbs, all chemically treated with the aforementioned synthetic cannabinoids. Cloud 9, however, is a "liquid Incense" (whatever the heck that is), so it is much more easily vaporized and smoked through the ever-popular E-Cigarette medium. The negative results of Cloud 9 are the same as K2/Spice, since these products are in the same family.

Little bottles of pink chemicals at the gas station! Let's smoke!

Know Your Drugs: Butane Honey Oil

Preface

"Honey" or "Budder"

First off, let me be clear about something: I am not detailing how BHO is made so that people will try to make it. In fact, were this basic information not readily available online, I would merely write about BHO without the bit of detail here. I include an overview of how it is made only because the process is often dangerous and deadly.

In states where Marijuana is legal to consume, BHO is presently legal, but like many substances we want to delay youth exposure for as long as possible, since early exposure raises the likelihood of negative consequences.

What is BHO?

"Wax"

Butane Honey Oil is a hash oil extraction which uses butane to strip THC from marijuana. Hash oil is not new, but the oil rendered today is more potent (as is today's marijuana), estimated at anywhere from 60% to 99% more potent than traditional marijuana. That is the other large concern I have; we simply do not know the effects of regular, large doses of THC (though one study that focused on youth consumption suggests that young people who smoke regularly--3 times a week--could lose up to 10 IQ points). There just have not been many credible adult studies.

"Shatter"

Anyway, back to BHO. It can render in several different consistencies. "Shatter" is brittle, "Wax" is akin to Play-doh, and "Budder" is more like butter. Each may be dabbed (sampled with a long, needle-like tool) and smoked with no smell in e-cigarettes. BHO is also often used in consumables.
 
These two potentials make it very attractive to students and underage consumers.

Users and Law Enforcement both refer to it as "the Crack of weed," due to its potency.

 

Don't Try This at Home

Marijuana is packed tightly into plastic, metal, PVC, or glass tubes with a hole in one end and a filter on the other.

Butane gas is then attached to the hole, and flushed through the tube. The THC, frozen and stripped from the plant material drips through the filter. The final step requires boiling the oil to release leftover Butane.

The Problem

 

Evidently, BHO is made by Ninjas. Who knew?

Sounds simple, right? The thing is, working with an explosive gas in compressed cylinders can be tricky, and boiling or baking BHO to get rid of the gas is honestly using heat on something flammable. If one is not careful—were one to cook BHO whilst “high,” for instance—the process can prove to be explosive. 

As in the case of methamphetamine labs, most often, law enforcement comes to know of a amateur BHO manufacturer only after tragedy.

The BHO Lab explosion at this apartment complex in Washington State injured several occupants of other apartments and killed one man who was resting in his own apartment. He was the former Mayor.