Relaxed regulations in response to the pandemic means more access to addiction treatment medications. But recovery programs are accepting fewer people, and the danger of overdose remains high.
Rosalind Pichardo advertises a daily food giveaway service in the heart of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood, where more people die of opioid overdoses than any other area in the city.Rosalind Pichardo advertises a daily food giveaway service in the heart of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood, where more people die of opioid overdoses than any other area in the city.
People in Ed's situation are exactly who Rosalind Pichardo wants to help. Before the pandemic, Pichardo would hit the streets of her neighborhood, Kensington, which has the highest drug overdose rate in Philadelphia. She'd head out with a bag full of snack bars, cookies and Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug.
After the lockdowns and social isolation began, Pichardo worried that more people would be using drugs alone, leading to more overdoses. But Philadelphia's fatal overdose rate during the pandemic remains about the same as it was this time last year. Pichardo thinks that's evidence that flooding the streets with Narcan is working — that people are continuing to use drugs, and maybe even using more drugs, but that users are utilizing Narcan more often and administering it to each other.
"I don't expect 'em to give 'em rescue breaths if they don't want to, but at least administer the life-saving drug," says Pichardo. In her own work as a volunteer, she estimates she has personally reversed almost 400 overdoses."There's social distancing — to a limit," Pichardo says,"I think when someone's life is in jeopardy, they're worth saving. You just can't watch people die.
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