NEW ORLEANS — Brian Watkins initially thought that Hurricane Katrina had done him a favor. It forced him to flee to southwestern Louisiana, where he planned to make a fresh start and kick his heroin and methadone habit.
But then Hurricane Rita tore through that corner of the state, and Watkins was chased back to New Orleans.
"At first I thought I could just go out and socialize," said Watkins, 23, who had been on probation for a narcotics offense before the storms. "But everybody was drugging. Everyone was strung out."
Watkins had nowhere to turn to help him stay sober for the minimum 72 hours required under Louisiana law before an addict can be admitted to a longer-term residential detoxification program. Before Katrina, Charity Hospital of New Orleans provided free medical detox services to the city's poor and uninsured. Patients could turn up at the hospital's door and have access to one of the facility's 20 beds. They were treated long enough to become eligible for admittance to a long-term program.
But Charity closed after the storm -- and for many, that closed off the best hope for getting clean.
Katrina's other effects
Medical specialists and drug abuse counselors say the stresses of life since Katrina have caused substance abuse to skyrocket. Meanwhile, the city's medical and psychological services are greatly impaired, and access to free medical detox facilities is zero. Yet all kinds of illicit drugs are more plentiful since Katrina, according to law enforcement officials.
Authorities think an increase in the drug trade has helped increase overall crime. They point not only to dealers but users desperate for their next fix.
"An untreated opiate addict is going to do whatever it takes to keep using," said Robert Rainold, program director at New Orleans' Bridge House, which offers a free, yearlong residential program to treat substance abuse. "We know how drug use generally relates to crime, so the more opportunities we have to treat people, the better off we'll be."
Since Katrina, most addicts seeking admission to a long-term inpatient recovery program have had to pay for initial medical detox at a private facility or else try to get clean on their own. Others are referred to Louisiana's only existing medical detox facility, which has 12 beds and is in Lafayette, more than 100 miles from New Orleans.
