When I had my wisdom teeth removed the end of December last year (nice Christmas present, right?), the prescription drug oxycodone, if I recall correctly, was prescribed to me. In the bottle of oxycodone, an opioid, there were 20 pills. How many did I take? One and a half.

I don’t say this in a prideful way. If I was in more pain, would I have taken more? Maybe. But did I need to be provided 20 opioids? Probably not.

Because I cover Whitehall Township Crime Watch meetings every month, I have been learning a lot about several topics - sex trafficking, crime court cases, and the heroin and opioid epidemic. This epidemic is hitting Pennsylvania hard, specifically the Lehigh Valley area. Most recently, Lisa Wolff of The Center for Humanistic Change presented the Heroin and Opioid Prevention Education (HOPE) program at the March meeting. Wolff said Pennsylvania has the second most heroin deaths in the country.

On March 29, President Obama joined individuals recovering from addiction and their family members, medical professionals and law enforcement officials - about 2,000 people - at the Nation Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta, Ga.

“This epidemic is harming too many Americans and their families. But we know - and your lives affirm - that treatments work, and recovery is possible. That’s why my administration is working to make sure that everyone who wants treatments can get it,” Obama wrote on Young People in Recovery’s Facebook page before attending the summit.

Obama believes we need to treat this epidemic “as a public health problem, not just a criminal problem,” he said before the crowd March 29.

The whitehouse.gov’s blog website lists some steps to be taken, which were outlined at the summit. They include “increasing access to a key drug (buprenorphine) for medication-assisted treatment,” “preventing opioid overdose deaths” with naloxone and “addressing the substance use disorder parity in Medicaid.”

At the local level, to try to combat the many fatal overdose occurrences, informational meetings have been put in place. Residents, teachers, parents, town officials, anyone have been invited to attend. State Rep. Dan McNeill, D-133rd, hosted two town hall meetings recently - one at Whitehall High School Feb. 24 and the other at American Club of Coplay March 30. Developing Apex also hosted a meeting April 13.

Upcoming meetings scheduled include:

• HOPE program, 6:30-8 p.m. April 18 in the auditorium at Northampton Area High School, 1619 Laubach Ave.

• East Penn Community Forum on Drug Awareness program by Lehigh County Drug & Alcohol and The Center for Humanistic Change, 6:30 p.m. April 20 in the auditorium of Emmaus High School, 500 Macungie Avenue.

• Upper Macungie Police Department program for adults only, 6:30-8 p.m. April 20 at the police station, 37 Grim Road, Breinigsville. Preregistration is required for this event by emailing Office William Rohrbach at wrohrbach@uppermac-pd.org.

Additionally, the second annual Sounding Out Against Heroin fundraiser featuring music entertainment by Scott Marshall & Marshall’s Highway will take place 7:30 p.m. April 23 at Musikfest Café at ArtsQuest Center, Bethlehem. To order tickets, call 610-332-3378 or visit steelstacks.org.

If you have unused or expired prescription medications, I urge you to drop them off at police stations participating in the Drug Take-back program. Some of those include Catasauqua Borough, Coplay Borough, Whitehall Township, Allentown, Emmaus, Salisbury Township, South Whitehall Township, Upper Macungie Township and Upper Saucon Township. The complete list of counties participating and their locations can be found at http://webserver.health.state.pa.us/health/custom/drugtakebacklocations.asp?county=all.

It seems like today almost anyone you talk to has known someone who has suffered from or is suffering from heroin or opioid addiction. This epidemic is a serious matter, and it’s here - right in our backyards.

Stacey Koch

editorial assistant

Catasauqua Press

Northampton Press

Whitehall-Coplay Press