ROSS TOWNSHIP, Ohio — In the Tri-State’s battle against heroin addiction and overdose deaths, one obstacle is how easy it can be to get one’s hands on a needle and syringe.
Loretta Huffy’s son, Adam, died from a heroin overdoes back in March, but it wasn’t until recently that she found out the surprising circumstances surrounding her son’s death.
Eight months after Adam’s death, the Butler County Coroner’s Office sent Loretta a packet containing her son’s personal effects.
Alongside his wallet, Loretta said she found a receipt.
“I looked and the receipt shows that he had bought a syringe for 29 cents and a six-pack of needles,” she told WCPO.
The receipt showed he bought the syringe and needles at an agriculture supply store just hours before he died, and addiction specialists have noticed this approach growing as a trend.
“The addict is the most resourceful person that I’ve come to know,” said Britton Carter, a case manager at the Joseph House Inc. rehabilitation center in Cincinnati. “To get a fix, you would do just about anything.”
Syringes and needles mainly used on animals, Carter said, are especially accessible and perfectly legal to sell.
Meanwhile, Loretta said the receipt is a sign that she needs to take action.
“A lot of people talk about the different signs that you get from people that have passed on,” she said. “I believe that was a sign for me to do something.”
She said her main goal is to bring awareness to people and let them know heroin addiction can happen to anyone.
