美国国家公共电台 NPR As Opioid Overdoses Bleed City's Budget, Councilman Proposes Stopping Treatment

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The fire department in Middletown, Ohio, is overwhelmed¹ by emergency calls for people who have overdosed on opioids. A councilman there is worried that the city's budget can't keep up. He's suggesting a three strikes rule - overdose two times and paramedics will respond. The third time they may not. Esther Honig of member station WOSU has the story.

ESTHER HONIG, BYLINE²: A fire truck rolls into Station 83 after responding to a call. Firefighter Bryan Oliver says this time it was a fire, but usually it's a drug overdose. On average, his station gets four to five overdose calls a day.

BRYAN OLIVER: We actually had one this morning. We rolled up and he's laying crunched³ up in a ball, and the typical agonal breathing, pale skin.

HONIG: According to the fire department, the city of about 50,000 has already seen nearly 600 overdoses this year. That's more than they saw in all of 2016. And that has a price. Each dose of Naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, costs about $30. And depending on the potency⁴ of the opioid, one patient may require several doses. The department estimates they'll spend up to $90,000 on Naloxone this year. That's 50 percent more than their entire budget for all the drugs aboard their ambulances. When a local councilman heard that, he says he came up with an alternative.

DAN PICARD: If we don't do anything the city's going to run out of money.

HONIG: Dan Picard says each overdose run costs more than $1,000. He counts the wear on the ambulance, the cost of the drugs and the medics. His idea - impose⁵ a three-strike policy. The first two times a person overdoses they would have to pay back every cent by performing community service. Now, if that same person overdoses a third time but they have not completed their community service, an ambulance will not arrive to help them. Picard says the plan has been called inhumane. But what happens when the city can't afford any emergency services at all?

PICARD: So not only will overdose patients be dying, accident patients will be dying. Heart attack patients will be dying.

HONIG: Picard doesn't even know if this idea is legal. From addiction⁶ treatment to a needle exchange, this year the opioid epidemic⁷ could cost Middletown over $2 million, 10 percent of the city's annual tax revenue⁸. The chief of fire says the money will have to come from somewhere else. As EMS, they are legally and morally obligated to respond to an emergency. Firefighter Bryan Oliver says he can see why people in Middletown might support Picard's idea.

OLIVER: You know, you can drive down the road and sometimes there's somebody laying on the sidewalk. You know, they're just - they're tired of what it's doing to the community and the country.

HONIG: Out on Central Avenue, the city's main drag, John Blankenship is sipping⁹ an afternoon coffee. Like many people in the city, he's lost family to opioid addiction. His young son and daughter both died. Blankenship says the city may face financial ruin, but as a taxpayer¹⁰ and a father, letting people die is not an option.

JOHN BLANKENSHIP: God should be the only one to decide when somebody dies, not a councilman.

HONIG: City attorneys¹¹ are researching Picard's three-strike plan. If they determine that it's legal, it will come up for a vote by city council as soon as next week. For NPR News, I'm Esther Honig in Middletown, Ohio.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYCHO'S "DYE")

1 overwhelmed   

[ overwhelm ]的过去式

参考例句：

• She was overwhelmed by feelings of guilt. 她感到愧疚难当。
• If (one was) overwhelmed by passion, it could lead to serious blunders. 当感情完全淹没理智时，就可能铸成大错。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

4 potency   

n. 效力，潜能

参考例句：

• Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
• Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天，就有可能失效。

5 impose   

vt.把…强加于，加重…负担；征收(税款)

参考例句：

• Don't impose yourself on people who don't like you.不要硬缠着不喜欢你的人。
• I don't want to impose on you.我并不想打扰你。

6 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

7 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

8 revenue   

n.总收入，财政收入，税收；税务局

参考例句：

• The country diminished the revenue by reducing tax.这个国家通过减税而使税收减少了。
• A government's revenue and expenditure should be balanced.政府的财政收入和支出要平衡。

9 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。

10 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

11 attorneys   

代理人，律师( attorney的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The judge granted the condemned man a respite to enable his attorneys to file an appeal. 法官同意缓期执行，以便这个犯人的律师提出上诉。
• At five the attorneys would have gone home. ５点钟律师们就会回家了。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹