Houston… We Have a DCP “Prahblem”
This past week has been a bit of a whirl wind for me. I have now started consistently working on my research project looking at the criminal records of those who OD’d in the past two years to look for patterns in their criminal histories. The typical trend for these people seems to be drug crimes and what will start as petty theft and escalate to full blown robberies that really can mess up a person’s life. So many people want to remove the law from the opioid epidemic, but what these people don’t understand is that when the users are picked up for violating a drug charge or probation or even a robbery, the law can be utilized as a first line of recognition that they need help. By showing that these people who have OD’d most all have criminal records related to drugs and larceny, we can show that these are people that we can identify and try to help before it is too late in the future for others.
Fetanyl, which is even more potent than heroin, is on its way to being mixed secretly into things like cocaine which college kids will be getting their hands on and that totally terrifies me. Apparently there are forms of opioids that when put in the air can be used as a terrorist chemical weapon and the EOPSS thinks that its really not a matter of if they will use it, but when they will use it. Big scary ideas that I am being told about but also it is so very interesting to be because it makes me see the opioid epidemic as a bigger problem than I had known. Before I kind of related it to people who were junkies and need their lives back on track and people who just took a wrong turn after procedures or traumas and needed help to get back to normal, but now to think about it as a terrorist weapon I see that it is a bigger potential issue than I had ever imagined and it motivates me to get up early and come to work each day.
Jen Queally has really become a wonderful mentor to me while I’m over in the EOPSS and I really love our conversations about not just the opioid epidemic and her job but also about her life balancing her family of six and being a strong successful woman in the work force as well. I really admire her and I’m glad to be making these relationships this summer for sure.
In other news my supervisor at the DPH has decided to resign from his position as Drug Control Program Director. He conveniently leaves his position the day before my internship ends on the 8th, but it was sad to see how nervous the people in the office and on his team are for the adjustment and change. I guess David has had some personal things going on with his Dad’s health and needs to have a higher paying job to cover it all. I wish him the best and am excited to see what he does as the Director of Pharmacy for MIT. David is a good leader but he was just juggling too many hats here and didn’t have the resources provided to him that he needed to accomplish all that he wanted to do in order to stick around. It has definitely influenced my feelings towards working for the government long term. However I am still very interested in the content of the job and believe in what we are working for.
