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On Wednesday afternoon, a police officer in East Liverpool, Ohio, stopped a vehicle for driving erratically and made a shocking discovery: The driver was barely conscious. A woman was slumped across the passenger seat next to him, turning blue.

In the back of the vehicle, a 4-year-old boy sat restrained in a car seat, according to a police report.

The officer called an ambulance, and when the EMTs arrived, they administered the life-saving drug Narcan, used to reverse opioid overdoses. After 47-year-old James Lee Acord and 50-year-old Rhonda L. Pasek were revived, police arrested them and contacted Columbiana County Children’s Services.



I was debating whether to post the photo, but it sends a message that words can not.

Like so many accelerating issues I do not know if there is a solution, the solutions you hear about are just messing around at the edges.

I remember speaking to a couple who adopted a child from China, one of the reasons they had was many adoptees in the US are drugged in the womb...

What is wrong that so many people have a need to use opiates and stimulants to escape from reality ? 100 years ago there was an epidemic of alcohol abuse that led to prohibition. Now we have the added horror of mass drug use in the States and in Britain. I despair.

Its not just limited to the US and the UK, huge problem in Australia too, and I'm sure we aren't the only ones.

Locally, our main problem appears to be meth.

Poor little boy.

Yeah, it's real classy to blur out the little boy's face but yet identify him as the passenger's child. Erm ... her name and picture went viral and now the whole world knows exactly who he is. Way to look out for the kids.

It was meth here too, that was where all the publicity was, now it seems to be turning rapidly to opiates.

The situation was rather forseeable as drug dealers in many states have had their previous market progressively taken away from them over the past ten years or so. It looks like California is going to be the next to strip some dealers entirely of their market of choice.

Ys, it's a huge, huge problem where I am... and in similar very seasonal small coastal towns that depend heavily on tourists & seasonal visitors. Our small police & fire depts are completely overwhelmed by this crisis, needing to administer Narcan at least several times *every* day... sometimes to several people at the same time.

One townsperson with a weird sense of humour said that now even serious traffic infractions were going unnoticed & unticketed for the first time he could remember. But it's no joke.

Pity that there is a drug onboard ambulances and police vehicles to aid overdose victims. It is very hard to overcome an addiction and there is always a fear of a relapse.

Bit of a hard nose attitude, I know, but have seen two addicts destroy their families, time and again, with their addiction to drugs. Jail time and rehabs did nothing to help them not reach for the needle once they were out of either place.

Drug overdoses make up a huge % of paramedic calls where I am in Canada, we have a major drug epidemic, and our homeless population has doubled in 2 years because of it.

I see on average a paramedic unit reviving an overdose victim about once a day. Just down the street about 2 blocks is a corner where a group hangs out, drive past at any given time, and someone is shooting up.

Now with all the Fentanyl-laced heroin hitting the streets overdoses are higher and higher, one agency tested street heroin in Vancouver and found 85% was Fentanyl-laced.


While not available to most users, some will now have the option of pharmacy grade prescription heroin here.

Canada now allows prescription heroin in severe opioid addiction - British Columbia - CBC News



Drug addiction is very bad in North America (and likely elsewhere) which affects everyone in the end through increased costs to healthcare, higher crime rates, and so on.

Maine State Trooper Helps Save Driver from Heroin Overdose - WatchGuard Video

Heroin and opiates are a huge problem here.

This was in Maine a couple of years ago. I drive this bit of road pretty much every day. The guy was doing 94 in a 50 through Portland having just done heroin. He got pulled over for speeding, then the trooper ended up doing CPR on him in the breakdown lane with the help of an ER nurse who pulled over.

I guess my concern is that the issue is escalating.

Awful story

What a harrowing video clip....

Yes, the 'rescue' antidote Narcan seems to be a mixed blessing.... I remember when our town police were desperate to get the rules changed so every officer could be trained up & carry it --(fire dept personnel were already allowed to carry it). So many lives could be saved, the argument ran, if police who are often first on the scene of trouble could just quickly administer.

Yep, now they administer so quickly that users often shoot up in or near the police station parking lot...just in case of an overdose/fentanyl reaction/whatever. Either that, or--as is common here too--one partner waits to use, & if the first user turns blue, rings 911; if not, the second user knows it's safe to use.... What a complete nightmare....

I don't know about "mixed", Narcan seems to have had an almost entirely counterproductive impact - turning an extremely dangerous drug into one that is perceived as "safe" to use.
I agree with Rete. Some of you probably think I am a bad person for saying this, but what a waste of time, and extremely dangerous for the officer too, just a few feet from passing traffic.

If you take the risk you may end up paying the price - illegal drugs are illegal for a reason, and while my libertarian side says "legalize all drugs", because the efforts spent chasing drugs and drug dealers has been insanely expensive and largely ineffective, that would only make much sense if users knew that they alone took the risk and couldn't expect someone wielding a Narcan spray to haul them back over the edge.