Here is what the Centre County DA had to say about the opioid crisis

Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna doesn’t typically comment on a pending case, but he made an exception for the case involving the death of a Penn State student.

Cantora said he felt it was important to share his perspective on William Denton’s case because it offers a window to analyze the opioid crisis.

Mark Grover, 25, was charged with drug delivery resulting in the death of 19-year-old Penn State student William Denton. Centre County coroner Scott Sayers said Denton died on Jan. 8 as a result of a multi-drug overdose. Grover agreed to sell Denton heroin and methamphetamine, which allegedly caused Denton’s death.

“Every time someone buys and uses heroin, they are literally playing Russian roulette with their life,” Cantorna said. “They do not know if that dose is going to be laced with something that is going to kill them.”

Cantorna said one of the most dangerous aspects of the opioid crisis in Centre County is not knowing what is in the heroin that is being sold. He said the heroin being sold is often laced with fentanyl, which is potent enough to kill someone with one injection.

“Every person who thinks that they’re going to use heroin that one time, that one time could be the last time they ever use heroin,” Cantorna said.

Accessibility and the low-cost of heroin is one of the main factors behind the crisis, according to Cantorna.

“It really is remarkably inexpensive. In the ‘70s that was not the case. Today, it is remarkably inexpensive, so therefore it’s easy to buy these drugs and use them and become addicted,” Cantorna said. “There is a real risk of death in using heroin. It’s not just addiction.”

Drug overdose deaths were consistent between the ages of 25-54, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The data was collected from 1999 to 2016 and found that drug overdose rates increased for all age groups.

For people 25-34 years old, 34.6 per 100,000 died as a result of a drug overdose. For people 35-44 years old, 35 per 100,000 died as a result of a drug overdose. For people 45-54, 34.5 people per 100,000 died as a result of a drug overdose.

“The reality is that this crisis and the risk of the crisis affects everybody from the age of 14 to fill in the blank,” Cantorna said. “There is no one who is immune to the potential risks of this.”

Grover waived his preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

This story was originally published April 11, 2018 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Here is what the Centre County DA had to say about the opioid crisis."