Lt. Jon Harless of MBN was among officials speaking at the meeting in the Philadelphia High School auditorium.

Harless said a super pandemic may sound like overkill to some people, but noted that Mad Cow disease and Asian Flu were at one time described as a pandemic.

It costs $78.5 billion to treat and provide healthcare and/or incarcerate people nationwide who are addicted to opioids, he said.

MBN Director John Dowdy and Harless cited several statistics during the presentation which ended with a question and answer session with those in attendance.

In 2016 alone, 45,087 opioid prescriptions were written in Neshoba County, Dowdy said, noting that the county’s total population is 29,403.

“That tells you how drastic the problem is,” he said.

In many cases, those opioid prescriptions are the doorway to addiction, Harless said.

While some people may think the face of an opioid drug addict is a homeless man sleeping in a ditch, Harless said that was not the case.

“Look to your left, look to your right and look in the mirror,” he said. “The addict looks just like us. It does not discriminate on who becomes addicted.”

In 2015, there were 52,404 death from overdoses in the United States, 33,091 of those were from opioids.

For comparison, 37,757 individuals were killed in vehicle accidents and 36,252 were killed by firearms.

“The average Boeing 747 passenger jet carries 416 people,” Harless said. “Opioid overdoses kill the equivalent of one 747 crash ever 4.5 days.”

Accidental drug overdose is now the leading cause of death for persons under the age of 50 in the United States, he said.

While the United States accounts for about 5 percent of the world’s population, Harless said, “we consume about 80 percent of the opioids manufactured in the world.”

In 2016, Mississippi was ranked Number 5 in the nation per capita for annual opioid prescriptions.

“That is 1.07 prescriptions per citizen,” Harless said.

He also addressed the rise in heroin use, noting that MBN heroin cases increased by over 300 percent from 2012 to 2016.

“The path to heroin addiction begins with prescription opioid addiction,” he said. “Over 80 percent of heroin addicts begin with prescription drugs.”

From 2013 until 2016, deaths from heroin related overdoses rose 2,000 percent in Mississippi, he said.

He also noted statistics that opioid addiction has brought about an increase in crime across the state.

From Jan. 1, 2014, until Dec. 4, 2017, Mississippi has experienced 133 successful burglaries at pharmacies, 53 attempted burglaries and nine armed robberies.

“In 2016, 146,389 dosage units of opioids were stolen from pharmacies in Mississippi,” Harless said.

Dowdy told those in attendance that officials were seeing success with the drug Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, which is used to block the effects of opioids, especially in overdoses.

He said there was an ongoing effort to distribute Narcan to EMTs, law enforcement and other first responders across the state.

Dowdy said Narcan was used on a 19-year-old college freshman recently who had overdosed on heroin.

When first responders arrived, Dowdy said the student was blue and had a faint heart beat.

“They saved his life,” he said. “Every life matters.”

Dowdy said that young man “15 years down the road may find a cure for cancer.  As long as I am director that will be the case. Every life matters.”

Dowdy also talked about regulations that are placed on doctors and pharmacists in an effort to identify people who “doctor shop” to obtain opioid prescriptions.

The Mississippi’s Prescription Monitoring Program is an electronic tracking program managed by the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy to aid practitioners and dispensers in providing proper pharmaceutical care relating to controlled substances.

It also serves as a tool for regulatory agencies and authorized law enforcement to identify potential inappropriate use of controlled substance prescription medication.

During the question and answer session, one Philadelphia physician said the regulations were causing him anxiety and required more and more his time.

He said many people come into his office in need of opioids to treat various conditions.

“So many are doing it just right with no abuse,” he said.

Dowdy said many doctors share the same concerns and the legislature was looking to address some issues.

“There is a lot of misinformation in the medical field,” he said, noting that the legislature hasn’t finalized all the regulations.

“There are likely to be some tweaks,” he said.

Dowdy called the Prescription Monitoring Program a tool for doctors and pharmacists to identify doctor shoppers.

He said nurses or office managers could be trained to input data into the program.

“It’s not an unnecessary burden on doctors as others on staff can do it,” he said.

A former federal prosecutor, Dowdy described the program as a benefit to doctors.

“If my daughter died because a doctor kept writing prescriptions to her for opioids, I’m going to sue you if you did not check the PMP,” he said. “ I hope you did because if not you’re going to need a whole lot of money. It is there to protect you as well as the patient.”

He urged doctors and pharmacists to be patient until all the regulations are in place.

While he is 26 agents short because of funding, Dowdy said his agency continues to work all over the state.

When asked if they investigate pain clinics as well, Dowdy said, “we have our eye on some of those folks. I’m not afraid to arrest a doctor. It’s on our radar. Trust me.”

Chief of Police Grant Myers, who attended the town hall meeting, said his officers were certified to administer Narcan.

“I’ve seen those numbers and statistics about opioids before but this really put it into perspective when it is described as a 747 jet crashing every four-and-a-half days,” Myers said. “Anytime an airplane crashes it makes national news and is all over social media but you rarely hear about an opioid overdose.”

Myers said Philadelphia was fortunate, for now, that heroin “hasn’t made it here up to this point but we feel like it is coming. We have heard talk about it being here at times. We will continue to work with MBN and other state and federal agencies to combat this epidemic.”

Myers said if anyone has a relative or friend who is addicted, it is important to get them help before they end up in jail or deceased.

“If you don’t know where to turn you are welcome to come to the police department and I will try to point you in the right direction.

“ I will help get you in touch with someone who can assist them.”