Kichline: Chester County Leads the Fight Against Overdose Epidemic

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Narcan is a nasal spray used as an antidote for opiate drug overdoses. The drug has revived over 46 people this year in Chester County.--photo via AP Photo / Charles Krupa.
Chester County
Chester County Commissioner Michelle Kichline.

One of America’s healthiest counties is working hard to keep it that way in the face of a spreading drug overdose epidemic. Chester County officials are leading the way in a coordinated crackdown on overdoses, according to a Philly.com commentary by Commissioner Michelle Kichline.

The lengths to which Chester County has taken its anti-overdose initiative include an Overdose Prevention Task Force, Drug and Alcohol Services treatment options and a region-first treatment court, an overdose death review team, a Narcotics Overdose Prevention and Education program, several Overdose Prevention Symposiums and more. The result? “Dealers now charge a premium to come to Chester County,” District Attorney Tom Hogan is quoted as saying in the opinion.

Chester County’s pioneering Project Naloxone has also put the opioid-blocking medication Narcan in the hands of frontline forces like police and first responders, “saving” lives 46 times this year and helping improve on last year’s 72 accidental overdose deaths.

But more needs to be done, Kichline said.

“Chester County, like the rest of the nation, has been overprescribing, undereducating and falling behind in the prevention and treatment of opioid drug abuse. … Opioids are being abused by young, old, wealthy and poor. And abuse of these prescription drugs has opened the door to heroin use, especially among young people, because heroin is cheaper and easier to obtain.”

Read much more of Kichline’s commentary on the overdose epidemic on Philly.com here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of local overdose prevention initiatives here.

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