Kane County Sheriff, counselor and doctor fight stigma of opioid addiction

BATAVIA – Three men who are attempting to get opioid users into treatment say the public’s attitude needs to change in order to reduce the deaths, family heartbreak and crime associated with opioid addiction.

“The stigma of drug use drives people’s fear through the roof and tells them that we shouldn’t help these people,” said Nathan Lanthrum, a drug abuse counselor and the clinical director at Lighthouse Recovery in St. Charles.

“We have to break the stigma. People are people and they need treatment,” said Steve Holtsford, an emergency room doctor at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, who also works with Lighthouse Recovery.

“If you don’t treat these folks, they are going to turn to a more severe outcome,” Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain said. “We’re trying to develop a culture of empathy.”

The three men are cooperating to battle the opioid epidemic and described their efforts to a group of people who gathered at the Congregational Church of Batavia on Sept. 19.

Hain outlined his “A Way Out” initiative which allows drug-users to call the sheriff’s office and be given transportation and placement in a treatment program without fear of arrest.

The sheriff also described his collaboration with Holtsford, who is monitoring use of opioid replacement medication among inmates at the Kane County Jail, and Lanthrum, who is conducting counseling sessions there.

“There is such a stigma about what we are doing,” Lanthrum said. “Not just the medication, but treating people in jail.”

Holtsford said that medication is the key to stabilizing an opioid user so the person will respond to counseling and make progress.

“We need to stabilize the part of the brain that opioids have messed up, take care of the cravings and get them into treatment so they can get their job and relationships back,” Holtsford said.

The old standby methadone is still appropriate for some patients, Holtsford said, while inhibitors which simply prevent the addict from getting high work for others.

However, the most promising substance seems to be buprenorphine, an opioid replacement which stops withdrawal cravings. This is the medication being used at the jail.

Heroin and other opioids produce a surge of the pleasure-producing dopamine in the brain, Holtsford said, but with repeated drug-use the effect is reduced, until the brain releases dopamine only in the presence of the opioid.

“Now you need the opioid to just get out of bed,” Holtsford said. “Users say they would rather be dead and that it’s torture from the inside. They are increasing their doses, but not getting high.”

Hain said trained staff at the jail performs a medical triage on inmates to determine if they are addicted to opioids or other drugs.

The buprenorphine is administered by a jail staff member who first crushes the pill and then places the medication directly into the mouth of the inmate, who is instructed to sit on his hands, Hain said.

Buprenorphine is “uniquely designed for people with opioid-use disorder,” Holtsford said. “Opioid-use disorder is best treated with medication and therapy.”

The therapy is where Lanthrum comes in, providing group counseling sessions at the jail two times a week.

Hain said that it is pointless to simply prosecute offenders without getting them into treatment, perpetuating an endless cycle of drug-use, criminal activity to support the habit and ever-lengthening prison sentences.

The sheriff asserted that his approach is tough on crime, and noted that the rate of opioid deaths in Kane County has decreased dramatically since last year.

“Whenever I heard the word ‘opioid,’ I cringe,” Hain said. “This is a crushing weight on our community.”