The number of heroin-related deaths in East Baton Rouge Parish set a new record in 2015.
"In 2012, my office worked 5 deaths that were related to heroin overdoses," says Dr. Beau Clark, coroner for East Baton Rouge. "In 2013, that number jumped to 35."
So far this year, 38 people have died.
Heroin is a type of opiate. Clark says continued opiate usage dulls the body’s sense receptors, causing users to develop higher and higher tolerances. "So then a five miligram pill doesn’t work, you use a ten miligram pill. That doesn’t work you go from hydrocodone to oxycodone, then to oxycontin, then to heroin, even."
Once an individual stops using opiates, that tolerance will disappear, which can be deadly in its own way.
"We also see heroin overdoses in people who have been opiate addicts for some period of time. They’ve gotten into a rehab program, they’ve gone completely through the rehab program, they’re clean now, and, for whatever reason, they’ve gone back to the drug. And their thought process is, 'Well, this is how much I was doing right before I went into rehab, I’m going to do that same quantity again.' And it becomes a deadly overdose. Because their system really has reset to a normal level."
Clark says there’s no rhyme or reason behind the demographics of opiate addiction. He’s seen overdoses by rich and poor people, the elderly, even teenagers.
"You can’t pick a particular group out and say 'those are the folks you have to worry about.' It’s everybody we have to worry about. And I think that really just sheds some light on the power of opiate addiction."
Clark hopes tougher sentencing laws for heroin dealers will prevent future deaths.