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SAVANNAH, Ga. () — Inflation has made life more difficult for most people; the stress of high prices is adding to the financial burden of the average family. But it’s also contributing to something else — a big increase in hard drug use.
“I’ve had patients flat-out tell me now is a great time to do this because I don’t have the resources to have fun in any other way,” said Dr. Tim Connelly, an internal medicine doctor at Memorial Health. “And this is the only thing I can do to make myself feel better.”
Connelly says during the pandemic, substance abuse became more common. Back then, people were isolated from friends and family which led them to experiment with drugs.
Three years later, Connelly said he’s seeing the trend of more patients struggling with addiction, return.
“Now that inflation is going up in some areas of our community, drugs is less expensive than going out to nice restaurants, sometimes going out and having a good time,” Connelly said. “So we’re now seeing an increase in people that are having complications of substance use disorder.”
Michael Sarhatt, Chatham County’s Counter-Narcotics Team Director agreed. In February’s County Commission meeting, he said the county saw a significant rise in overdose deaths.
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Sarhatt pointed out that deadly opioid overdoses rose by 20% in Chatham County in 2022. Dr. Connelly and Sarhatt say the unpredictability of buying drugs from street dealers can be deadly.
“Eighty percent of the pills on the street that you don’t go to a pharmacist and you have your, you get it straight from them,” Sarhatt said. “Eighty percent of those are laced with fentanyl.”
“So now, oftentimes when they can’t get it from a physician because there aren’t enough, they’re going to street medicine, which is very dangerous now that it’s been shown to be laced with all kinds of things,” Connelly said.
He said the patients he’s seeing range in age, background and socioeconomic status.
“Substance use disorder can affect anyone. It can affect a college student or a high school student,” Connelly said. “It can affect somebody in their eighties and nineties. I’ve seen 90-year-olds sometimes turn to substances.”
