Heroin Deaths A Growing Epidemic In Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Heroin-related deaths have become a nationwide crisis. In recent preliminary reports, both Pennsylvania and New Jersey reveal they have had a significant increase in overdose deaths.
Philadelphia is one of the hardest hit cities in the country when it comes to heroin-related deaths. Ronald Lamb is Director of the Office of Addiction Services in Philadelphia. He says the heroin in the city is of high-quality and cheap.
"We've had over 340 some deaths attributed to heroin alone in the city of Philadelphia," Lamb says.
He says the city offers several services to help addicts, but is focused on encouraging people to become certified in the use of Narcan, a drug which immediately reverses the effects of the overdose and can revive a lifeless person.
"Much like we have a fire extinguisher in our house, if you do have a fire, it would be great to have a fire extinguisher," he says. "Well, in this case, God forbid you would ever have an overdose in your house, but it does happen, you can hopefully avoid needless death."
