Rehab is For
OPIATE AWARENESS
Heroes
“If you can get a lot of Naloxone out into the public, you can save a lot of lives. ” — Lucas County Health Department Program Coordinator Jerry Kerr
and Winners
Anyone Can be Affected The opioid epidemic leaves out no geographical region or demographic. Dr. Caren Steinmiller, a University of Toledo substance abuse researcher with 20 years of experience, urged people to be more aware of signs or symptoms from loved ones, especially after they have sustained injury and may have been prescribed opioid pain medication. Another way to be vigilant, she said, was to pay attention to prescriptions in the house. If they are not being used, the best thing to do is immediately drop off the remaining pills to a designated prescription drop-off location in the area. The biggest problem for organizations and mental health professionals in addressing this problem, Steinmiller said, is the stigma surrounding addiction. Lucas County Sheriff John Tharp and his office have created a program to help reduce the stigma around addiction, a stigma that involves perceptions of law enforcement’s approach to handling addicts. The spirit of the initiative, the
Drug Abuse Response Team (DART) program, is to alleviate fear involving law enforcement when drug misuse occurs. Law enforcement officials said they’re trying to get the message out that they’re public servants who are there to help, not just arrest addicts and throw them in jail. The drug epidemic has been unusual, confounding drug researchers and prevention specialists, said Gerken. During the bygone cocaine epidemic, drugs were concentrated in specific areas in town. Even if coke was found elsewhere, law enforcement and drug treatment professionals had a general of idea of where it originated. This is not the case with the current opiate and heroin epidemic. “The opiate epidemic is in people's homes, in people's medicine cabinets, in people's basements,” Gerken said, referencing the fact that the influx of opiates is from prescriptions from doctors. “The fight is just beginning. We don't have enough money. We don't have enough time. But we are going to do everything we can.”
Heroin and Opiate Awareness Day Aims to Destigmatize Treatment During the days of the crack epidemic, there used to be a saying: Rehab is for quitters. “That was a big phrase for a while. That is such crap,” said Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken at a recent event in Toledo to raise awareness of the opiate epidemic. “Rehab is for heroes and winners.” The Heroin and Opiate Awareness Day, which took place in December at the University of Toledo, was a chance for local law enforcement representatives, elected officials, government agency and nonprofit organization representatives to educate the region
“The fight is just beginning. We don't have enough money. We don't have enough time. But we are going to do everything we can.”— Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken people overdosed on heroin in one day in November 2015. Someone dies of a heroin overdose every day, he said, adding that “the heroin epidemic now is worse than the crack epidemic of the 80’s and 90’s.” on the risks and perils of opiate and heroin use. Punctuating the seriousness of the problem, Lucas County Sheriff’s Deputy George Kral said that four
Ray of Hope One positive sign is the proliferation of an opiate and heroin overdose antidote called Naloxone, which has decreased the number of overdose deaths, Lucas County Health Department Program Coordinator Jerry Kerr said.
“If you can get a lot of Naloxone out into the public, you can save a lot of lives,” Kerr said, adding that the medicine not only saves the individual’s life, it also gives them another opportunity to get clean.
Naloxone is now being made available by the Mental Health Recovery Services Board, according to Kerr. However, making Naloxone readily available to the public is one thing; the other is getting people to step up and take it.
“This is not a shameful thing,” Kerr said. “The first step is getting them to come out of their closet, so to speak.”
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