Hawkeye Reporter

The opioid crisis has been affecting communities across the United States, and Iowa cities and towns also have been impacted, although less than some other states, according to a police officer who specializes in drug matters.

At least 893 deaths related to opioids have been reported in Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health, from 2016 to 2020, and the agency noted prescription painkillers such as OxyContin have typically lead to the use of other opioids like heroin. Approximately 60% of the deaths could be tracked to the pain relievers.

The impact of the opioid crisis has reportedly affected Iowans economically by $6.1 million in 2017 alone, reported the Des Moines Register. 

"We have families across Iowa that have lost loved ones to opiate overdoses. That's how it's impacted our community," police officer Lindsay Powers, who works with the Eastern Iowa Heroin Initiative, told the Hawkeye Reporter. "We're having individuals who were once community members no longer with us because of this disease. Iowa was not exempt from the national crisis on opioids by any means, but we are impacted less than some other states – Ohio, for instance. They got hit a little bit harder than we did, but we're still seeing it here in Iowa."

Powers said the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports more than 100 people a day are dying from overdoses nationwide. 

"We're still losing roughly 128 people every day to an overdose related to opioids," she said. "It's impacting families, businesses and communities ... they're taking those individuals away from our communities. We're not getting their input on on anything anymore because of this disease that we're seeing across Iowa."

A wide variety of people are at risk, Powers said.

"The data that I've looked at has individuals between, early 20s to about 55, but what we're really seeing is anyone can be at use depending on personal factors," she said. "Their genetics. Do they have family members with substance use disorders, are predisposed to it? Did they have childhood traumas or even traumas later on in life? And then there's always curiosity for youth. 

"We see a lot of individuals who turn to opioids because of a prescription that they were given from their doctor, so why there's not one individual answer to this, but it's all these little factors that play into who's going to be at risk," Powers added. "And we're seeing just a wide variety of individuals that are being affected by it." 

The Iowa Department of Health recorded deaths for a four-year period, It said 60% of those users could be linked back to people who took pain relievers, Powers said.

Iowa will receive $25 million of a $4.3 billion settlement from Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family owners, Republican Attorney General Tom Miller told the Register. Purdue has faced more than 3,000 lawsuits for marketing OxyContin, an opioid painkiller which contributed to the opioid crisis that has lead to the deaths of more than 500,000 Americans, the Des Moines Register reported.

Miller said thousands of victims in Iowa will receive a portion of the settlement. 

"No settlement could ever be enough to make up for the misconduct by the Sacklers and the company," he said. "This agreement is in the best interests of Iowans, however, and will go a long way toward abating the opioid crisis the defendants helped create." 

The state attorney general filed the lawsuit against Purdue in 2019. Thirty-six Iowa counties filed their own lawsuits alleging, "Purdue officials repeatedly made false and deceptive claims that OxyContin was safe and suitable for a wide range of pain patients," the Des Moines Register reported.

The money Iowa will receive can be used the fight the epidemic, Powers said.

"Every enforcement officer, we see a lot of mental health issues and substance use disorders issues," Powers said. "This is because there's a lack of funding for those other entities. I would like to see the money go toward initiatives like that. In one county we finally have a mental health access center. It is places like that could receive some of this money to address the mental health issues that are associated with substance use disorder and actually get people the resources needed."

Powers said putting that money toward mental health could ease the crisis. 

"I think that can help break the cycle of individuals that we see constantly just because they're not getting the the recommendations or the resources needed to address their problems individually," she said. "I'd like to see that money go towards the initiative that can actually help on a individual level. To combat the substance use disorder and mental health combined, we don't really see a lot of. Treatments that are addressing mental health and substance use disorder." 

Communities can help fight the opioid crisis.

"There's ways that you community members can help break down the epidemic in our communities," Powers said. "We can't just go and say we're going to fix everything across the nation. We have to focus our attention just to our communities to start with. When you talk about it, you break down the stigma that's associated with substance use disorder and it gets individuals in the mindset. ..maybe I can see recovery, maybe I can talk about the fact that I just I can't stop using or I think about using all the time. It just breaks down that that stigma and that barrier."  

Powers also mentioned an Aug. 29 overdose awareness event. 

"Getting involved with opportunities like that is really how community members are going to help combat the opioid disorder in the communities and the opiate epidemic in general," she said.