Prepared by:  Dana Joy

Burkemont Precinct Chair

Burke County, NC

 

The Opioid Epidemic Reality

Article #6 • March 23, 2018

                                                                                                                      

 

“I’m not going to beat around the bush; Burke County has a problem” says Sargent Rusty Jones of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, “I think it’s a systemic problem from society”. Referring to our high schoolers, Sgt. Jones went on to say “there’s lack of accountability to themselves, to their parents, to their schools, and there’s lack of accountability sometimes through our system because of some of the ways our juveniles are treated. They have this perception that ‘nothing is going to happen to me’, so as these young people are graduating; there’s not a lot of opportunity for these kids here (in Burke County).”

 

Sargent Jones, originally stationed in Henderson county and then transferred to Burke county in 2012, was recently promoted and now covers Iredell and Alexander counties which is the 2nd busiest district in the state of North Carolina. He was an extremely informative speaker for our gathering as he brought to the table eye opening information of the issues he faces every day concerning drug and alcohol addictions and impairment while patrolling our highways.  

 

One of Sgt. Jones major concerns is dealing with the issues that surround marijuana. “People start with that. It’s easy, it’s available and relatively cheap; they start with that drug.”  He pointed out that the federal government will not prosecute an individual with less than 500 pounds of marijuana in their possession. In many states, legalized medical marijuana precedes the recreational use of the drug. He alluded to the dangerous effects that marijuana, likened to the effects of alcohol, will have on the user. “Marijuana impairs your judgement” Sgt. Jones went on to say. “We deal primarily with five drugs; alcohol, marijuana, benzos (valium, diazepam, versed, Ativan, etc), opioids and meth (methamphetamine).” He classified opioids as everything from pain pills to heroin.  Benzos, he said, slow your responses, your actions and perception of time and reality,  much slower due to the fact they are a depressant and have similar effects like alcohol. While under the influence of benzos, the user is at risk while driving and even walking around. Sgt. Jones added there have been many fatalities related to benzo use, for example, some people have just walked out and stumbled in front of vehicles.

 

Sgt. Jones educated us on the ways he can detect which type of impairment is influencing a driver. “We will stop someone, and they will have a distinct odor of marijuana on them.  A chronic marijuana user will have stains on their teeth, just like someone who smokes (cigarettes) all the time, and their tongue will have a greenish-yellow tinge to it.” He went on to explain the meaning behind what is referred to as “lack of convergence”.  This is where the individual’s eyes will try to “cross; but one will go back out” as he demonstrated this technique using a pen to show us how a field sobriety test is done for the eyes. “That not only means that they have marijuana in their system; that means that they have marijuana in their system that is active and crossed the blood brain barrier and influenced their brain at that point.”

 

“The next step up is pills; and these are opioid based pills. Anything that is opioid, or a synthetic opioid is a major depressant. One of the great indicators of opioid use is constricted pupils, almost the size of a pin point.”  Sgt. Jones added that when their pupils are so severely constricted, their vision at night is dangerously impaired. Other obvious signs of opioid use are that they will begin to “nod off” during a conversation and their voice will sound quite low and “scratchy”.

 

Methadone, which was created to wean the user off other drugs, is “nothing but a substitute addiction” Sgt. Jones said. “Once you take meth, you’re an addict, bottom line. It is instantly addictive. There are only two ways to get off meth; either you get off it, or you die.” He explained that the users body will psychologically ‘continue to chase after that first high’ but they’ll never get that same high back again, so the user will try and try again to achieve the impossible, thus becoming highly addictive; seemingly with no end in sight. He went on to say that meth has the exact opposite effects of opioids, in that it speeds up your system rather than slow it down.  The pupils will dilate making them impaired by too much sunlight and the brain processes so fast, that a person wouldn’t even realize that they may be driving at extremely excessive speeds.  

 

Sgt. Jones feels that the DWI laws (driving while intoxicated) in North Carolina need to be strengthened. He said that a 16 or 17-year-old, who may be driving down the road smoking weed should lose his license until he or she is 18 years of age. He believes this is an issue that we as a community need to address in our courts. NC DWI laws do, however, in his opinion, send a positive message in that if a person gets caught driving while under the influence, they are required to obtain a substance abuse assessment. Although these assessments are a good thing, the counseling sessions attached to these assessments may not be thorough enough. “One of the downfalls I see is that the average drunk driver will get behind the wheel an average of about 75 times before he gets caught” Sgt. Jones went on to say. “We need some more long term mandated follow-up with people who have substance abuse problems; who have alcohol abuse problems, weather they are driving or as it spills over to thefts, robberies…. you name it. These drugs literally consume those who consume them.” He said that even though our society has changed, referring to the increase in drug and alcohol problems on the rise, he is thankful that we do have a group of people, right here in Burke county, “that can come together and try to make positive changes.”  

 

Dana Joy can be reached at:  

dana@burkecountyvoice.com   •   www.burkecountyvoice.com