The number of overdose deaths in the Quad-Cities is small. But experts say drug use is on the rise as the pandemic lingers

By EMILY ANDERSEN

Click here for updates on this story

    DAVENPORT, Iowa (Quad-City Times) — Deaths from drug overdoses have been on the rise across the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the Quad-Cities, the numbers of overdose deaths are too small to draw statistical significance from them, but national and statewide data show that, in general, drug use is on the rise.

In Rock Island County, there were 21 overdose related deaths in 2019, 18 in 2020 and 28 in 2021, according to Brian Gustafson, the county coroner. In Scott County the numbers haven’t varied much, with 26 overdose deaths in 2019, 26 in 2020 and 25 in 2021, according to the Scott County recorder’s office. The numbers for 2021 are still preliminary in Scott County, however, as more data are still being collected for the year.

Nationally, there was a a 21% increase in overdose deaths between May 2020 and May 2021, according to the CDC. In Iowa and Illinois, the increase was slightly less dramatic but still noticeable. From May 2020 to May 2021, Iowa’s overdose deaths rose 9.3% and Illinois’ increased 4.1%.

Dr. Alison Lynch, director of the University of Iowa Hospital’s Opioid Addiction Clinic, said treatment options were limited in the Quad-Cities for substance use disorder. Many of her patients travel to Iowa City because they can’t find a provider in the Quad-Cities.

One of the main medical treatments for substance use disorder is buprenorphine, a medication usually prescribed as part of a treatment plan with behavioral therapies. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s treatment services locator, there are only five buprenorphine practitioners in Scott County and four in Rock Island County.

“This treatment really can be very effective and can be life-changing,” Lynch said. “I would really encourage the health care providers in the Quad-Cities to look into providing this treatment in their practice because it works pretty quickly and it’s so effective and it makes such a difference.”

UnityPoint Health offers buprenorphine and other medication-assisted treatments at the Center for Alcohol and Drug services on the Iowa side of the Quad-Cities, according to Jamie Mullin, UnityPoint’s marketing manager. On the Illinois side, UnityPoint runs the Robert Young Center, which doesn’t offer medication-assisted treatments but does provide other treatments for substance use disorders.

“With numerous locations and programs, our community approach to care means people have more than one way to get the treatment they need,” Mullin said.

Lynch said although substance use disorders had been a growing problem for years, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of people to experience mental health crises, including substance use disorders, for the first time.

“It’s partly that more people are using substances and also partly that people who were using substances before are using substances more,” Lynch said.

People’s reactions to the pandemic have changed as it has dragged on during the past couple of years, according to Lynch, whose background is in psychology. Toward the beginning of the pandemic, many people weren’t working because of stay-at-home orders, and that led some substance users to use more frequently because they had more free time. Now, continued drug use often stems from depression as people grow more concerned that life may never go back to normal.

The pandemic has also caused a lot more people to use drugs while they are alone, so they may not have someone around who can help resuscitate them from an overdose or get them treatment.

Iowa announced in July 2020 that Narcan, a brand of naloxone, would be available for free at local pharmacies throughout the state. Naloxone is a medication that can help prevent death when someone has overdosed.

Lynch said that in the past few years, naloxone had become less effective since more and more substances were being made with fentanyl, an opioid cheaper and easier to get than prescription opioids, but also much stronger. When someone overdoses on a substance containing fentanyl, Lynch said they may need multiple doses of naloxone, and it doesn’t always work.

“There’s been multiple efforts to try to get more Narcan out there, and I do think it’s made a little bit of a dent, but I think there’s still so much farther to go with that. I think that people that use drugs are not necessarily moving through the circles where the Narcan is easily accessible,” Lynch said. “We need more Narcan. People need to have access. It needs to be where people are using drugs and they need to have lots of it, so that if they need to use multiple doses, they can.”

There are other ways to prevent overdoses much earlier on, Lynch said, like destigmatizing mental health care and making it more accessible, as well as supporting families and children so that there are fewer people with trauma that may lead to self-medication.

“Many people who have substance use disorders have a history of trauma or other mental health issues or social issues, and often drug use is a way to deal with a lot of that,” Lynch said. “Making treatment more readily available is a really important thing. And we definitely need to back up and look at preventative things, what we can do to keep people in the future from developing substance use disorders and then having an overdose, but for many people it’s too late to do prevention, so we really need to make that treatment more accessible.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.