Macomb County Seeing Increasing Number Of Substance Abuse Cases
MACOMB COUNTY (WWJ) - Officials in Macomb County are struggling to cope with the sky rocketing number of substance abuse cases.
The director of the County's substance abuse office, Randy O'Brien, tells WWJ's Sandra McNeill that there are currently 160 people on a waiting list for treatment, unfortunately they may be forced to wait up to two months.
"We lose about fifty percent off of the waiting list by the time we come back to calling them to say, 'Hey, can you get in', and they just went back to using, which means they are just progressing further in their disease," said O' Brien.
O'Brien says it's an ugly disease.
"It's very close to being out of control, when we've got 200 hundred people in Macomb County a year that's dying of overdose, I don't know how you can say that's not out of control," said O'Brien.
The number of overdose deaths has doubled over the past four years-- to over 200 annually. They're mostly young people between 18 and 25, using opiates like Oxy Contin, Vicodin and heroin.
O'Brien says it's an ugly disease.
If you think you or a family member may have an alcohol or drug abuse problem, contact CARE (586) 541-2273. Collect calls accepted.
Find out more information here.
