By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — As a child, Megan Merkel was always asked what she wanted to be when she grew up — a doctor, a lawyer or a teacher?, “I never said I wanted to be a drug addict,” Megan said. Yet, that is what she became. Now, she is a drug addict in recovery, and will remain so for life., Megan spoke to about 30 people at Beth Chaim Congregation in West Windsor for a panel discussion about substance abuse Jan. 25. The panel included a police officer, an emergency room doctor, the Mercer County Prosecutor, a counselor and another young person in recovery., Megan admitted that she grew up in a beautiful house with a great family that included two loving parents. She had everything she needed and everything she wanted., “My parents always questioned what they did wrong,” Megan said, because they did not understand why she became a drug addict., But it wasn’t about what her parents had done, she said. It was more about herself. She felt that she did not fit in with her classmates in high school. She was not as pretty or as thin or had the “right” clothing or shoes, she said., “I had a look of anger on my face,” Megan said., She began getting drunk on Saturdays, and then practically every day. She was introduced to marijuana and then to heroin which, she said, “brought me to my knees.”, Drugs controlled her life, she said, and she would “bulldoze” anyone who tried to stop her from getting them. She was arrested and jailed — a self-described felon at 24 years old., Megan signed up for a recovery program and has been drug-free since June 2016., Dr. Greg Neyman told the attendees he was not surprised when Megan said she would bulldoze her way to get drugs., That’s the kind of thing that happens in a hospital emergency room, said Dr. Neyman, who is an emergency room physician at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton Township., Drug addicts go to the emergency room and pretend to be in pain so the doctor will prescribe pain medication, Dr. Neyman said. Sometimes, it works., When a teenager is brought into the emergency room as the result of a drug overdose, “there is a lot of family drama that comes out,” Dr. Neyman said. There is a lot of yelling and screaming., From Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri’s perspective, “narcotics are everywhere in Mercer County. They are in every neighborhood and every town.” Marijuana is most prevalent, but there is a growing issue of heroin addiction., The use of Narcan, which is an antidote to a heroin overdose, has made a different in the number of fatal overdoses, Mr. Onofri said. It was administered more than 190 times, saving 167 people in Mercer County., Heroin addicts are drawn to Mercer County towns, because they know police carry Narcan in the patrol cars, he said. But the addicts are playing a “very dangerous game,” he said, because a police officer may be tied up on another call and cannot get to the overdose victim in time., Heroin is popular because it is cheap — $2 for a “deck” or packet, compared to $20 for an OxyContin or Percocet pill, Mr. Onofri said. But the heroin that is in circulation is extremely potent, which means it is more likely to lead to an accidental overdose, he said., Speaking to parents in the room, West Windsor Township police Lt. Matthew Kemp said, “The odds are, one of your children will come into contact with drugs and it is up to you to push them away from it.”, Many children are confronted with drugs in middle school, and for those who become addicted, the options are limited — recovery or death, Lt. Kemp said., “If you have never seen it, it will take your breath away. It’s gory. (Addicts) are driven to become animals. Every waking minute is about getting that ‘fix.’ They will do anything to get money for it,” Lt. Kemp said., But the police are not intent on just arresting drug users, he said. Police officers will help them to find a rehabilitation center because “when we can get them at their worst, that’s the (best) opportunity to get them help,” he said., Counselor Camille Bloomberg, who also sat on the panel, said recovery is not easy. Sometimes, people in recovery have a relapse and have to go through the recovery process again., To the young people in the audience, Ms. Bloomberg told them to help their friends enroll in a recovery program. And if they are in the room with someone who had accidentally overdosed on drugs, “don’t leave them and think they will sleep it off. Call 911,” she said., “You can be a support to somebody. Recovery is attainable, but it is not easy,” Ms. Bloomberg said.
