Vivitrol can cost upwards of $1,000 per shot, but because it’s covered through Medicaid it’s one of many costs taxpayers cover related to the heroin epidemic Butler County currently faces.
The human toll of the heroin epidemic is an often-reported story, and can be accounted in the number of unintentional heroin overdose deaths. More than 3,000 Ohioans died in 2015 due to unintentional heroin overdoses, which is nearly a 500-death increase over 2014, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
But the cost to taxpayers is an unknown quantity.
Heroin abuse and addiction is woven into just about every court case — from traffic stops to theft charges — and judges in Butler County say it’s nearly impossible to truly know the full financial impact as the court system adjudicates these cases.
“I feel like I’m in drug court every day,” said Hamilton Municipal Court Judge Daniel Gattemeyer. “It’s difficult. If you were sitting in my court, you could get a feel for it. So much of it’s related to the heroin problem.”
Other costs include treatment, which is often paid via Medicaid, jailing of the defendants and the costs of Narcan police and firefighters use, which can cost $20 to $40 per shot. An overdosing addict may get that shot multiple times by a responding officer or medic.
Heroin deaths became in February 2015 the leading cause of death in Butler County, according the county coroner's office, and municipal judges say they often learn of a defendants' death when they have a request to abate court fees. There could be two or three a week, which Middletown Municipal Court Judge Mark Wall called "staggering."
Jail costs
More and more jail space is filled with misdemeanor-charged defendants, the judges say, which can cost upwards of $50 to $55 per day to house someone in Middletown and even more at the Butler County Jail.
Wall said probation fails because they’ll just get heroin regardless and won’t show up for their next court hearing so “you have to lock them up so they can’t get it.”
The jail time Maldonado received in 2013 in Middletown was a wake up call for the now 24-year-old mother, she said. However, that didn’t stop her from using when she got out. .
“I had all these good intentions,” she said. “It was easy for me to say that when I was locked up.”
The American Society of Addiction Medicine estimates that 517,000 Americans battle heroin addiction, and heroin addiction is stronger than any other drug, according to Recovery.org.
Though the Vivitrol shot has proven to be successful, judges say they are seeing an increase in other drug abuse cases, which Fairfield Municipal Court Judge Joyce Campbell said is “the downside to this.”
“We give them the Vivitrol shot, we give them the treatment so they start using coke and meth,” she said.
A sheltered life
Maldonado said she lived a “sheltered” life and was told by her parents “not to do drugs” but she admits she never fully understood why. Then she “sort of rebelled” and started to hang out with new friends who did drugs.
“I really had no clue about these drugs and I just know they made me feel different,” she said.
The 24-year-old now lives in Miamisburg but the majority of her drug use was in Middletown. She couldn’t hang on to her her first apartment at Bavarian Woods because of her addiction and spent most of the past several years living with other addicts.
For the past several months since she’s been consistently on Vivitrol she’s been sober. Her 11-month-old son and fiance help her live a clean life, along with her support group and the Vivitrol shot, which can cost upwards of $1,000 per shot but is paid for through Medicaid.
How do you combat it?
The judges say that people need to want to recover from heroin and drug addiction. That means treatment.
“I don’t know if there’s a cure for it,” said Gattemeyer. “It’s probably continuing to fight it as hard as you can at every level at every way.”
Maldonado said that means a lifestyle change.
She said she did use heroin when she was pregnant with her son, and while no complications have shown because of that, she has constant “guilt” anytime he’s sick.
“I’ve seen people die and little kids have to grow up without their parents,” she said. “I don’t want that for my son, especially when there’s help out there available.”
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