Hitting home

Mother hopeful dealer's murder plea, sentence will avert tragedies like hers

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 5/10/17

By JACOB MARROCCO Sue Coutu wasn't too aware of the opioid crisis five years ago, but that changed quickly. It was only around 18 months after her daughter, Kristen, revealed she was using heroin before she passed away from a fatal overdose in 2014. The

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Hitting home

Mother hopeful dealer's murder plea, sentence will avert tragedies like hers

Posted

Sue Coutu wasn’t too aware of the opioid crisis five years ago, but that changed quickly.

It was only around 18 months after her daughter, Kristen, revealed she was using heroin before she passed away from a fatal overdose in 2014. The dose Kristen, 29, was sold was almost entirely fentanyl, a drug that is 100 times stronger than morphine.

“I wasn’t super aware of [the epidemic],” Sue said. “When my daughter was revealing to me that she was using, I was shocked. It was a shock to me, and at that time the number was lower, but it was still high and climbing. I still think there are people in the state who aren’t aware, despite the media that’s been out there and the number of deaths we’ve had.”

“Sending a good message”

Cranston is no exception to the opioid crisis. The Herald reported last month that the Cranston Police Department usually encounters an overdose every 10 days. Statistics from the Cranston Fire Department show the use of Narcan, a nasal spray meant to reverse overdose effects, about 19 times a month.

Kristen’s case is a bit different, though. Criminal charges were pursued against the dealer, 25-year-old Aaron Andrade, who distributed the drug to Kristen. He ended up pleading guilty last month to second-degree murder and will serve 20 years on his 40-year sentence.

Sue didn’t know if she wanted to pursue a plea deal or go through with a trial when Assistant Attorney General Jim Baum, who handled the case, gave her some advice.

“He was really diligent about going through the process, and I think he would’ve gone either way that I wanted to go, but he warned me about how hard it would be to go through a trial and how emotionally devastating it would be,” Sue said. “I felt that it was still sending a good message that if you sell drugs and they kill someone, that you are murdering them and you will go to jail for it.”

Sue, who serves as the vice principal of Western Hills Middle School, was hopeful during a Friday interview at the school that the case would become a precedent.

She said that users who get drugs from each other to dull pain don’t qualify as hardened dealers to her. The criminals she would like to see pursued are drug dealers who don’t know the exact composition of the drug they are selling, but with the knowledge it could be lethal.

“A drug dealer to me is the career criminal, the dealer who doesn't even probably use him or herself, but is taking a drug that they don’t have any idea what’s in it, knowing full well that it could kill people, and selling that for $20, $40, whatever it might be, driving off and they could be leaving someone dead in their wake,” Sue said. “That person to me is a criminal and a murderer. I hope this is precedent-setting so that those people think twice before they decide to sell drugs again.”

“A hole in her heart”

Her despair brought her beyond just Kristen’s case. Sue said she is involved a Facebook group called “GRASP” (Grief Recovery After Substance Passing), which has more than 5,000 members according to its page. Across that page, she sees similar cases to Kristen: Bright, talented individuals who suffered from a mental illness, not so much physical pain, and needed relief.

Sue said it feels as though “we’re losing a whole generation of young people” through the epidemic. She shared a bit about the issues Kristen was enduring.

“She wrote one time that she had met her match in heroin, because the high was so incredible,” Sue said. “It gave her a loving feeling. It gave her warm comfort. Something she never felt before on her own. She always felt she had a hole in her heart. She always said that, ‘I feel like I have this hole inside of me that I can’t fill.’ And she said, for some reason, heroin filled that hole. When somebody finds that, it’s something they want again and again.”

She continued to reflect on Kristen, gesturing to the collage of pictures she has of her daughter on her office wall. Kristen was vivacious and outgoing, and Sue couldn’t say enough about her.

“You can see my daughter’s pictures up here [on the wall], she was a beautiful girl,” Sue said. “Very articulate. Very interesting, feisty. She was a handful, but she was a great kid. She was very loving and helpful to people. She was always someone who fought for the rights of people. A lot of these kids are like that.”

“We don’t do that with diseases”

Sue explored the future of the crisis and the best ways to tackle it as new obstacles rise up, most notably carfentanil. Carfentanil is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine and 100 times stronger than fentanyl, according to the DEA’s website.

The DEA said the drug is used predominantly as a tranquilizer for large animals, such as elephants. It even possesses another frightening property than its less potent cousin does not.

“Carfentanil is so lethal that health care workers can’t even touch it,” Sue said. “It can come through the skin. When they find someone that’s overdosed on carfentanil they have to be very, very careful. The thing is, people that are addicted to heroin don’t know what’s in the heroin. They used to cut it with things like rat poison and all kinds of things. The sad part is some people aren’t afraid of the fentanyl because it’s a better high.”

As for remedies to the epidemic, Sue had several different options to offer. She said quitting heroin cold turkey is impossible, so medication-assisted treatment (MAT) could be one way to go for those addicted to opioids. That method combines behavioral therapy with medication to beat substance abuse. Methadone and Suboxone are two examples of replacement drugs.

All first responders carrying Narcan, as well as schools and homes have a supply on hand as well, would also be necessary.

Changes to the mental health and health insurance systems could also prove beneficial as well. She said that when Kristen started going to rehab, insurance only paid for 30 days.

“But 30 days isn’t enough for many people,” Sue said. “They need to detox, if they’re doing the detox, then they need to be treated and sometimes it’s not enough and they need much more than that.”

She also mentioned methods such as needle exchanges so anyone using would have clean needles and could avoid disease through sharing.

Another idea is creating an institution similar to Insite, a safe injection site in Vancouver, British Columbia. Insite, which opened in 2003, describes itself as the “first rung on the ladder from chronic drug addiction to possible recovery.” Users are supervised by nurses on-site.

According to a November article in the Seattle Times, these places are designed to decrease stigma and encourage trust. Seattle Times health reporter JoNel Aleccia reported that Insite says it has prevented 5,000 overdoses since it started running.

Of the 6,532 unique visits in 2015, according to Insite, 5,368 were referred to outside health services while 464 were referred to Onsite detox.

“There’s also harm reduction we can work on,” Sue said. “They make sure they’re safe, that they’re not overdosing.”

Sue offered advice to anyone in her situation, urging them to help their child immediately rather than waiting and to carry Narcan in one’s home just in case.

“I would say, love your child as much as you can and tell them that every day,” Sue said. “I would tell them to be very vigilant. Don’t believe in tough love and that they have to hit rock bottom before they come back up because we wouldn't do that with a cancer patient, we wouldn't do that with someone with another illness. We don't do that with diseases. So I would say give them all the help that you can.”

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