The Stark Reality of Addiction in Viral Overdose Photo

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on September 21, 2016 under Addiction Trends, Opiate Abuse | Comments are off for this article

A picture of a man and a woman passed out from heroin with a 4-year-old boy in the back seat has gone viral. The picture was released after police pulled over a car that was driving erratically. Officers were able to observe that the driver had slurred speech and pin point pupils. They then noticed the child in the back seat, behind the woman who was passed out. One of the officers snapped the picture, and the police chief made the decision to release it on the city’s Facebook page.

“We are well aware that some may be offended by these images and for that we are truly sorry, but it is time that the non drug using public sees what we are now dealing with on a daily basis,” the city said in their Facebook post.

“The poison known as heroin has taken a strong grip on many communities not just ours. The difference is we are willing to fight this problem until it’s gone and if that means we offend a few people along the way we are prepared to deal with that.”

East Liverpool, Ohio is just one town in the state that is struggling with a massive opioid epidemic. Tens of thousands of people have died in the past year from drug overdoses. Had the police and emergency responders not been able to administer naloxone in time, this couple would likely have died as well.

As for the 4 yr-old boy in the back seat, he has been transported safely to another state to be in the care of other family members. And while some critics of the decision to release the picture of the addicts out of their concern, the image of the young child having to witness the whole scene is a stark reminder that addiction affects everyone involved, not just the addicts themselves.

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