Charges filed in another JC heroin overdose

Monday, January 30, 2012

A Jefferson City woman has been charged in connection with a weekend heroin overdose.

Court records show Danella Churchill, 47, was charged with possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia.

According to police reports, on Saturday, at about 3 a.m., officers were dispatched to a medical emergency call at 411 Hickory Street, where Churchill lives.

When they arrived, they found an unresponsive 49 year-old Jefferson City male resident and two other persons, one of whom was administering aid to the 49 year-old.

Cole County EMS was summoned to the scene, and transported the victim to an area hospital, where he was stabilized and treated.

While the initial investigation led to information that the victim was possibly drunk, officers were able to determine that the victim had taken heroin, at which time he went unconscious.

A search of the residence found a number of drug paraphernalia items including a spoon with burn marks and drug residue as well as two syringe caps.

A capsule containing morphine was also seized as well as a metal grinder with marijuana residue.

More like this story

Sequoia 1 year, 3 months ago

This issue will be coming under more official scrutiny. Maybe a discussion is in order.

For one thing, this story makes it seem like 911 dispatched police first, who didn't call for an ambulance until later.

What is the connection between EMS and police in this case? Does EMS obey orders from the police about when to respond to an overdose? What power do police have to order EMS to wait until police investigate, or to get access to a patient's emergency room records?

What happens to the bystanders who call for help? Is the threat of prosecution a deterrent to calling for help?

riverrat 1 year, 3 months ago

Most ambulance services will not respond to certain scenes like suicides, overdoses, domestics, and other incidents until the scene has been secured by law enforcement. It is a safety issue for the EMS personnel. It has nothing to do with the police ordering EMS around. It is the EMS agencies who started this procedure.

Sequoia 1 year, 3 months ago

Interesting. Thanks.

Daddy 1 year, 3 months ago

Who cares one less doper the world is now a safer place

Gabrielle 1 year, 3 months ago

why is this the right thing to think?

wcywing 1 year, 3 months ago

such compassion. why did they send the police first? the drug war has been a losing proposition since Reagan started it.

wcywing 1 year, 3 months ago

putting non-violent criminals with violent ones, seems pretty stupid. cannibus was legal during and before prohibition, the country did not fall apart.

wcywing 1 year, 3 months ago

no, during prohibition, they made moonshine and nascar was formed. it increased organized crime, like the mob. cannibus was very well known. decriminalize. making it a felony is stupid. pursue real criminals.

spelchek 1 year, 3 months ago

Either we're free or not.

Gabrielle 1 year, 3 months ago

Given the Constitution as it is - should this be a federal issue or a state issue? Why an issue at all?

Thinking 1 year, 3 months ago

Unless the doper was your baby-- unfortunately it could happen to all of us.

asb 1 year, 3 months ago

The story suggests he didn't die, rather he OD'd and was "stablized and treated.".

Sequoia 1 year, 3 months ago

The issue is that while drug trafficking is a criminal issue, drug addiction is a medical issue. This is especially true with a powerful narcotic like heroin, because it creates a very strong physical dependency. That is, heroin addicts don't just WANT heroin... their body NEEDS heroin or else they get sick. So, one problem is that law enforcement doesn't really deal with the problem of demand.

I think society puts too much emphasis on law enforcement as a solution to drug abuse, because the Drug War has given local police a federal funding pipeline for military style weapons. As the saying goes, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." I don't want to see a bunch of SWAT raids in Jeff City where pets and innocent bystanders get shot.

Simply arresting a drug dealer, by itself, doesn't do much good for anybody except other drug dealers who are more than happy to step in and feed the demand.

The problem with the "Who Cares" view is that it doesn't do anything to reduce demand, either. It sounds tough, so Daddy probably thinks he's being a real tough guy. I'm sure he's proud of himself for being so tough. But it is exactly those parents who think their families are so good, and that their kids are so much better than the "dopers," who are most likely to be in complete denial when drug abuse gets into their families. If you don't care, you won't be ready when it counts.

Heroin is no joke. We need to address it as a community of parents, friends and neighbors. We can't just turn over our civic responsibility to the police. They need to be out chasing the bad guys. That's their job. We need to help sick people. That's ours. Because sickness, as we know, is contagious.

asb 1 year, 3 months ago

Extremely well said Sequoia.

Gabrielle 1 year, 3 months ago

I understand that law enforcement is calling upon the community to assist with this. I am sure you are a part of that, Sequoia. Do keep us up to date.

The Truth is all 'the bad guys' are a 'medically issue'. Who in their right mind does the things these people have done?

asb 1 year, 3 months ago

Be more specific Petunia. Users are not bad guys, Abuser are. Drug use includes causual drinking. Pot is virtually harmless to adults. Even harder drugs, while dangerous, CAN be used occaisionally without great harm. Effective Education prevents most hard drug use period. Graceful lumps all users in with the abusers and crimminal dealers on moral grounds. Nonesense

lovemykids 1 year, 3 months ago

We decrease demand by ALLOWING cultivation. Add to the supply and demand will be lowered. Who would want to buy weed from some jerk whole cartel who likes to kill people, if they had the option of buying from a local Missouri grower? PS I think ours would be better. Better dirt and all that.

martin2thetruth 1 year, 3 months ago

Sequoia hit it right on the nose! How many killers rapists, armed robbers, and child abusers are we gonna let get away wasting 90 percent of police resources on the Drug War!

asb 1 year, 3 months ago

And don't forget the corrupted police, financial institution laundering drug money, and the cynacism developing in our children due to ineffective and insincere education programs.

Gabrielle 1 year, 3 months ago

asb: can you elaborate on this? the educational programs, corrupted police, money laundering - where in Jefferson City are these things happening?

asb 1 year, 3 months ago

I'm sure local police are immune to the temptations of payouts for non-enforcement, turning an eye to non-violent pot beer and meth users, etc. If you want to see the cynacism created by poor education, check out the school parking lots. Nationally, drugs cause corruption. It's not universal, particularly in small towns, but the war does nothing to stop drug use, takes money away from anti-abuse education, dilutes the education effectiveness, and puts billions into an untracked, unregulated, and untaxed industry. Human nature dictates the corruption in such circumstances. Laundering is the only way to get some of that money back and education in such a broken process is a cynicism inducing farce. Decriminalize, regulate, tax, educate; let the cops deal with the abusers actions and the cheaters ala ATF, and let the schools, parents, churches and medical pros educate against abuse.

TraceyT 1 year, 3 months ago

The problem with the "drug war" is two-fold. First, there is a lot of money and power in fighting it. Not in winning it, but in fighting it. Like someone said above, there is a lot of funding being provided to various police and government agencies, that is being spent for new equipment and high tech toys, and the politically connected are most And that doesnt' count the value of confiscations. There's your money. How many times have you heard people say, "It's ok if the police search drug dealers and anyone else without a warrant, and I dont' have anything to hide so why would it bother me?" type of statements? It's much harder to get people to give up their rights if it's not being done for a good cause. There's your power. Most things in this country are about money or power (or both since they are connected) The second thing is that the term "war" is used to justify extreme actions, but no-one believes this is a war. The people in this country need to decide whether this is a war or not. A friend told me that in Russia, drug dealers are shot after the buy-bust, not just slapped on the hand. We need to either declare war and win it, or quit talking big and let it go. Fence sitting never works.

Please review our Policies and Procedures before registering or commenting

Or login with:

OpenID

News Tribune