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John O’Leary, Jr. was arrested at his home last Monday evening. Police found 36 small bags of heroin. O’Leary was looking at charges of possession with intent to deliver, unlawful delivery of heroin (don’t ask me what ‘lawful’ delivery of heroin is), unlawful possession of heroin (what’s the lawful kind again?), and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail was $50,000. He couldn’t afford it, so went to jail. According to his daughter, he started withdrawing from heroin while in prison and, because he wasn’t taken to a medically supervised heroin detox, the withdrawal killed him.

O’Leary arrived at the prison 12:15 a.m. Tuesday – shortly after midnight. About 27 hours later O’Leary’s cellmate called for help and O’Leary was pronounced dead about ½ an hour after that.

Kind of strange – if the withdrawal symptoms were so severe, why didn’t the cellmate alert the staff earlier? Surely, O’Leary’s symptoms didn’t come on that suddenly. What was going on during the prior 27 hours?

In any case, the attending doctor said O’Leary died from cardiovascular disease –arteries so severely blocked that the flow of oxygen was cut off, and his heart stopped. But O’Leary’s daughter said she’s not aware of her father having heart disease and says he was basically neglected during withdrawal. O’Leary’s daughter not being aware of her father having a heart problem doesn’t surprise me: How many heroin addicts are going to their family doctor for regular checkups to make sure they’re in good health? He probably didn’t know he had a problem either - heroin addiction tends to obscure other physical conditions.

When I was on heroin I went to the ER and found out I had a kidney infection so severe they kept me in there for a week. But I had gone to the ER for a totally different reason - I didn’t have a clue I had a kidney infection.
 
Heroin detox – i.e., withdrawal - while it can be very painful, isn’t likely to kill someone unless they have a pre-existing condition which, according to the attending doctor, O’Leary had. With that kind of complication, yes, it’s possible someone could die during heroin detox – or any detox for that matter. In fact, he probably could have died with just mild exertion.

The fact is, a heroin addict isn’t likely to be aware of conditions that may make withdrawal dangerous. To be safe, it’s best to ensure that someone who wants to end their heroin addiction either gets a medical exam first to determine if they’re up to it, or goes to a medically supervised heroin detox program. Drug rehab is their next stop.

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