Heroin deaths prompt Duluth to spread the word on anti-overdose drugs

Duluth area public health workers are pressing to get anti-overdose medicine into the hands of drug users following three opiate overdose deaths during the past two days.

At least two of those deaths involved heroin, said Maggie Kazel, program manager for the Rural Aids Action Network in Duluth.

"You can have a bad batch, meaning that there are some additives in it that are dangerous, or you can have what seems to be the case here, which is that the heroin is very pure," said Kazel, who runs a syringe exchange for the city's injection drug users. "They're dosing and not realizing that this is too strong."

Kazel said she asks anyone coming in for the syringe exchange if they've been trained in naloxone, a prescription drug that can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose whether it's caused by street heroin or prescription painkillers. A law passed by the Legislature earlier this year made the anti-overdose drug, also known by the brand name Narcan, much more widely available, both to drug users and first responders.

One of the first collaborations between public health organizations under the new law is a partnership between Valhalla Place, an addiction treatment center in the Twin Cities, and the Rural AIDS Action Network in Duluth.

Through a standing order from a doctor at Valhalla Place, the Duluth-based organization was able to obtain 300 doses of naloxone to give out to patients. In the first day after the organization got the naloxone, Kazel said they received a report that one overdose was reversed.

"I was in shock, complete shock," Kazel said of how quickly the drug was needed. She's since trained 15 people in how to inject the naloxone to a user overdosing on opiates. In those two weeks, she said five overdoses have been reversed.

Heroin and prescription painkiller use has skyrocketed in Minnesota and across the country in recent years. In 2013, law enforcement officials say 54 people died of opiate overdoses in Hennepin County alone.

Valhalla Place is working to form other partnerships to get naloxone into the hands of opiate users in other parts of the state, said Adam Fairbanks, the group's harm reduction services coordinator.

Fairbanks said naloxone is also available in the Twin Cities at Valhalla Place, which provides mental health counseling and medication-assisted addiction services like methadone.

"Our trainings are individual, it takes about 20 minutes, someone sits down, they fill out some paperwork, we go over the different important components of what to know for naloxone administration and then they're given a kit."

Deb Holman, a street outreach worker in Duluth, said drug use typically rises this time of year.

"We're coming into the holiday season where drug use and alcohol use increases with the whole population, and probably more so for people who are struggling, living on the streets or in poverty, or just addicted," Holman said.

At least two of the recent victims were known to public health workers. She said "a lot of people are very emotional and upset because they were friends of the community."

As Holman makes her rounds, she said she tries to amplify the police's message that the heroin out there is even stronger than usual, but also urges users to seek out naloxone.

"If you're using or have friends that are using, they need to get down to the needle exchange, get information on Narcan and learn how to reverse an overdose," Holman said. "People are going to use, so we can't stop that, but maybe we can prevent some deaths."

The overdose deaths happened in Hermantown and Duluth over a 48-hour time span. Police on Tuesday didn't have any updates about the circumstances. Public health workers in the Duluth area are planning a public vigil in the coming days to memorialize the victims.