Eric Kocian is looking for answers.
With the backdrop of people dying from drug overdoses in record numbers throughout Westmoreland County, he wants those answers sooner, not later.
So Kocian, an assistant professor of criminology, law and society, and a cadre of student researchers from St. Vincent College have set out to interview drug users and recovering addicts from the region about what triggered their descent into the deadly world of illicit drugs.
When they're done, they'll turn over their findings to members of Westmoreland County's Drug Task Force, who say they'll use it in trying to stem the epidemic of heroin and prescription drug overdoses that killed a record 87 people last year and 39 so far this year.
One official says it's information that can't arrive too soon.
“We want to get to the root cause of what's taking place,” said Tony Marcocci, a county detective and a task force member. “I think this is important on several different levels. It'll probably open up some new doors.”
Understanding the addicts' pathways to drug abuse may help the task force reach its goal of slashing the number of overdose deaths by 25 percent by 2019, Marcocci said.
Kocian and seven of his students began doing interviews at Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Next, they'll speak with people on probation and parole before heading to prisons.
“I don't think there would be many other opportunities to talk to these people,” said senior Marie Lotto, a student working on the project.
The researchers hope to interview about 200 people, all remaining anonymous, Kocian said.
“It's all voluntary — anybody that's willing to share their story with us,” he said.
With those caught in the drug epidemic coming from all segments of the community and all social and economic levels, Dr. Neil Capretto, medical director for Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Beaver County, said gathering information from a variety of sources is crucial in formulating a battle strategy.
Participants have been receptive to the 30-minute interviews in which they're asked basic biographical questions along with in-depth queries about their drug use, treatment, stress factors and home life.
Researchers have found some common threads in the participants' backgrounds, Kocian said.
“Every single heroin user we've interviewed started with marijuana,” he said.
While prescription pain medication has been identified as a leading pathway to heroin addiction, Sean Clarkin, vice president for research and external affairs for the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids said he's not surprised by the references to marijuana.
“Marijuana, alcohol and tobacco are substances that people are generally going to encounter first,” he said.
Olivia Matthews, a St. Vincent senior, has noticed a tie between a difficult childhood and drug use among those interviewed.
Information gleaned during the study is crucial to the task force.
“There's just not enough information on enough fronts ... on what the root of addiction is,” said Dirk Matson, task force co-chairman and county director of human services. “This is going to be fresh information. In my opinion, this epidemic is an organism that's changing all the time.”
The task force has completed an analysis of 100 overdose deaths during 2013 and the first few months of 2014, said Colleen Hughes, the group's co-chairwoman and director of the Westmoreland County Drug and Alcohol Commission.
The county's diverse makeup will be an asset to researchers as they gather information, Marcocci said.
“Every kid I talk to, none of them want to be addicts,” he said. “They want to talk. They want to let me know what they're going through.”
He and Tim Phillips, director of Community Services Prevention of Westmoreland, are looking forward to the results.
“It's going to the source, really,” Phillips said. “It's going to be maybe a snapshot of where we're at. We want to get the numbers down of these overdose deaths.”
Renatta Signorini is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-837-5374 or rsignorini@tribweb.com.
