Overdosing Woman Hits Median In Westlake

WESTLAKE, OH — A 55-year-old Wellington woman hit a median road sign on I-90 east while she was overdosing on May 13. The woman was saved by a Good Samaritan and the timely administering of Narcan.

The woman told police she snorted a pink powder that was given to her by a relative. She said she wanted to "see what everyone is talking about." She snorted the powder prior to the crash. The woman also take a prescription opiate for chronic pain.

The woman began overdosing while on I-90 and crashed into the median road sign. A passerby saw the accident, stopped, and performed CPR on the woman until officers arrived. Once law enforcement was there, four doses of Narcan were administered to the woman.

Westlake Fire took the woman to St. John Medical Center for treatment. A urine sample provided by the woman will be analyzed by the County Medical Examiner.

Police say the woman was cited for OVI, POM, and Failure to Control.

The state of Ohio, and the US government, have noted that many addiction stories seem to start the same way: An unsuspecting person goes into a medical facility and gets prescribed an opioid, and boom, an addict is made. In fact, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, pointed out a study from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that found four of every five heroin abusers also abused prescription drugs in the past.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the sale of prescription opioids quadrupled in the United States between 1994 and 2014. Yet, the agencies say, there has not been a corresponding increase in Americans reporting pain.

Photo from Westlake Police