OC student ODs on heroin

A student overdosed on heroin last week.

The student was rushed to Allen Memorial Hospital; however, the hospital was ill-equipped to handle the situation and was forced to life flight the student to Metro Hospital in Cleveland. Despite an initially poor prognosis for recovery, the student was eventually resuscitated. The student has since returned home.

"We spent a lot of time at the hospital with the parents," Assistant to the President Diana Roose said. "The staff spent hours."

"Heroin can be deadly," said Chester McGrady of Lorain County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services.

According to the Partnership for a Drug Free America, heroin is an opiate that interferes with the brain's ability to perceive pain. Heroin reaches the brain in less than 15 seconds. An overdose may lead to slow and shallow breathing, clammy skin, convulsions, coma and death.

"It's hard for someone to overdose snorting heroin," McGrady said. "Normally, the first time you snort heroin it's so nasty you ain't going to snort no more. It's nasty."

Roose said that the College is in the process of implementing the recommendations of last year's Drug and Alcohol Task force. An advisory committee will be formed soon to discuss issues of drug and alcohol use and abuse at Oberlin.