High Point has had a problem with heroin abuse over the last few years, including a record number of overdoses last year. Now it's increasingly showing up in a new place - on the roads.
On just one day last week, three High Point drivers overdosed behind the wheel. In one case, an 18-month-old child passenger was injured, says police Capt. Mike Kirk.
"It's shocking to us," he says about cases where children are involved. "The officers who have to work these, they have to go out to the scene and then we have to care for the child, it it disturbing."
Kirk says the wrecks tend to happen when people go somewhere to take the drug and then try to drive back. Making matters worse, he says some drug dealers are adding painkillers to the mix.
“Where it used to be they might put a little bit in their system, they would drive to wherever as it would start to take effect, they would get their high," he says. "Now with the fentanyl that onsets much more quickly - they start to pass out, they start to have impaired driving, so that's one of the reasons we've seen such an increase in it.”
Overdoses in High Point jumped by almost 150 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year, Kirk says. Last year, the department started using Narcan, which reverses the effects of an overdose. Kirk says the department is also partnering with local substance-abuse agencies to try to get the drug users the help they need.
"We're still working on it as hard as we can," he says.
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