As pandemic shutdowns cost people jobs, homes and access to treatment, opioid problems may be spiking. WOSU found big local spikes in overdoses and the number of people using a needle exchange.
"We cleaned libraries and they closed the library down and that kind of put me out of my living arrangements," he says."So I had to move in with a friend of mine, and I’m staying in his basement, and it’s a kind of stressful thing on me and him."
While the pandemic has changed everyone’s lives, the disruption to normalcy can be disastrous for people dealing with drug addiction., Central Ohio’s only needle exchange program. And Safe Point has been busier than normal in the last month, with about 100 people visiting each day they’re open. "Many of our folks are dealing with homelessness," Steward says."Many of them have lost their jobs. Many of them have chronic illnesses they are dealing with. And I think this pandemic exacerbates that."
"Connection is kind of the opposite of addiction," says Myles Stickle, director of behavioral health at Equitas."So with the isolation that comes with quarantine, there’s just that much more of an opportunity for people to kind of fall back into old behaviors and for the disease of addiction to take over."
Columbus Public Health director Dr. Mysheika Roberts says the pandemic has contributed to that trend. Roberts says that usually when there is an increase in overdose deaths, there is a corresponding increase in EMS runs and ER visits for overdoses. But during the pandemic, she says that’s not the case.
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