On Wednesday, LEDE News ran an in-depth interview with Dr. Suresh Srinivasan, Interventional Pain Management Physician, Trinity Health System, about the opioid crisis in our community. The full article can be read in its entirety by clicking here. An excerpt is below: 

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Just when no one thought it could get worse, it got worse because of Fentanyl.

More than 98,000 Americans died in 2021 from drug overdoses, and that number established a new, and most unfortunate, record in the United States. The opioid epidemic has hit the 35-to-44-year age group the hardest, and the majority of those who have passed have been males, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

Fentanyl is believed to be the single deadliest drug threat in the nation today because the narcotic has slivered its way into our country’s largest cities the same way it’s devoured so many tiny towns.

“We have seen more people are dying because they are using an opiate like heroin, but with a stimulant like Fentanyl added to it,” explained Dr. Suresh Srinivasan, an interventional pain medicine doctor at Trinity Health Systems in Steubenville. “We didn’t see that in the beginning of the opioid epidemic about 10 years ago, but the use of Fentanyl has spread so much that people need to realize what they are using when they decide to (service) their addiction. That combination is deadly, and people need to realize it.

“On the other hand, I’ve also seen Fentanyl being the only drug some people are using for their addiction, and that is a dangerous thing here. I’m not saying heroin is better, but straight heroin is not as deadly as Fentanyl,” he said. “No matter what, the only safe way to use any drug is when you are under a doctor’s care.”

Srinivasan has practiced in Chicago, Brooklyn, and at the Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., and now his office is located on Johnson Road in Steubenville.

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Once again, the entire piece can be found here.