Addiction. What can I do about it?

Thank you so much to the Wayne Public Library, Ms. Judy Wolack, Director, for providing us this opportunity to present this information here. The Wayne Public Library was also kind enough to provide us display space for the month leading up to this evening and I am happy to say that much of the materials that were on display have already been distributed to the local community. The Wayne Public Library – ‘What do you want to do today?’

I would also like to thank FAN, Families Against Narcotics. 

“An integral part of FAN's mission is to remove the stigma associated with addiction through education and to inform the community of the growing problem of substance dependency or addiction among all ages, and the increasing use of heroin by our young people.

Over the past few years, we have presented our Real People Sharing Real Stories to thousands of students in over three dozen school districts, spoke at over 50 conferences, and traveled to more than 30 communities, from Grosse Ile to Petoskey, to share our stories. Our unique presentation style includes parents affected by addiction, parents who have lost loved ones, and young people in recovery.

FAN also provides education through professional and guest speakers, as well as the sharing of personal stories. FAN creates a support network for those affected by addiction so no family or individual need suffer alone.”

Families Against Narcotics with chapters across the State of Michigan, in New York and North Carolina as well. FAN - "From Despair Came A Ray Of Hope"

Okay, there are our introductions, we will next begin with the problem but let me first state that there are three main ways I have found to get help for yourself or others. The first is to ask for help – tell someone.

As James Taylor wisely notes :

“Once you tell somebody

The way that you feel

You can feel it beginning to ease

I think it's true what they say

About the squeaky wheel

Always getting the grease”

So, squeak away! Squeak loud and strong! You know what’s going to happen? We know what happened with the mouse that pulled the thorn out of a lion’s paw when that mouse called for help, right? That’s right, the lion showed up to help!

So, tell someone, talk about it, you can also call a social worker, join a group, go to the library, learn. We’re going to talk about all of that.

This presentation is going to have three parts. First, we will take a brief look at FAN itself and the wonderful activities it is engaged in to remove stigma and provide hope and resources to those dealing with the scourge of drug addiction and drug use.

The second part of this evening will center on the problem. We will have an overview of the problem we are talking about so that you can become more familiar with what we are addressing and so that you can clearly recognize it if it is in your life or someone describes it to you happening to someone else. 

The third part of our time together, which will be larger part of what we will be doing together, will address many, but not all, of the things that you can do, in your life, right now, with your own incredible abilities to deal with it if you are experiencing it, either directly or through family and friends, and how to help in many other ways as good neighbors do.

Let’s get started with FAN.

I’m going to go over this straight from their own words because this is also the first thing that you can do about this problem. Contact FAN.

Why?

Families Against Narcotics (FAN) was born out of a town hall meeting held in 2007--a result of two teen heroin overdoses just weeks apart in the small, middle-class suburban community of Fraser, Michigan. All told, that community suffered 30 overdoses that year alone. All to heroin, all to opioids. Needing to do something, this determined organization set out to recruit members and educate the public.

A small church in Fraser, Christ United Methodist Church, opened its heart and doors to us. Close to 100 people filled the basement that first night, including grieving families, law enforcement, religious leaders, concerned citizens and several young people working on their own recovery programs. All were angry. All had questions. How is this happening in our community? Why are these good kids from good families using heroin? How do we stop it? Many good questions, few good answers.

But even in the despair, some offered hope. A couple of the young people struggling with addiction in the room stood up and said, "Let us talk to the students. Maybe, just maybe, they'll listen to us." And with that hope, our fledgling organization sprouted wings and took to the community. Within a month, FAN was speaking to every student in Fraser High School. Young people in recovery, parents who lost loved ones, real people sharing real stories. And we haven't stopped sharing our stories since.

Months later, as the stories behind the overdoses began to unfold, we learned that most of these young people started with prescription painkillers--Vicodin, Oxycontin, Percocet. All opiate-based medications, just like heroin.

Over the past few years, we have heard hundreds of stories like these, in communities across the state. Good kids from good families, all with hopes and dreams. Some continue their daily fight to stay clean, while others have yet to find the strength. Sadly, too many have lost the battle.

A key element of FAN's success is fostering relationships within the recovery community.

Over 50 recovering youth speak for FAN on a regular basis. Their support and willingness to share openly and honestly about their addiction has become an invaluable resource for the entire organization.

Equally important, the service-work opportunities afforded them through FAN have become an integral component of their recovery program. Without them, FAN would not be what it is today. So when a couple of FAN members decided to open a 3/4 house for those seeking recovery, FAN was there to help them get started. We provided basic living necessities and FAN members continue to deliver homemade meals for their Sunday dinners.

In a recent initiative, FAN, in conjunction with the 41B District Drug Court in Macomb County, has developed a program designed to assist young people in the court systems who seek recovery. In part, members of the FAN recovery community become mentors to those in the program, and all drug court participants are required to attend monthly FAN meetings as a way of giving back to the community. This helps to create a stronger recovery support network for all those affected by addiction, provides an opportunity to involve family members in the addiction process, and offers a viable solution that can be replicated in other communities.

 In addition to the Macomb County chapter of FAN, there are more than 20 active chapters throughout Michigan, and many more communities have expressed serious interest in starting chapters.

If you want more information – what can you do? Contact FAN. That’s right! If you are in any one of the fifty states or anywhere around the world, you can contact FAN to find out how to set up a local chapter. Working together is the key. You can find FAN online at www.familiesagainstnarcotics.org online or you can call at 586-438-8500 or email fan@familiesagainstnarcotics.org

I’d like to take a moment before we get into the next section of our work here and that is to note that, look at that! Three ways to contact someone to get help right now! And we just got started! You can use the internet, make a telephone call or email. They are on Facebook and all sorts of other social media. Isn’t that neat? The reason I am pointing that out is that the information I will provide about getting help – the contacts and others that you will find yourself – are relatively easy to come by. In fact once you get started you will find nearly instantly that you and your loved ones and your family and friends and neighbors are not alone. Not alone at all.

We’ll briefly talk about the problem here and then move on into what you, what I, what we all, can do about it.

As we heard a little earlier the problem, which is drug addiction and the flood of drugs in our society in general right now, is the problem. It is a problem of great proportions. It consumes money, goods, emotions and lives. It destroys lives and disrupts many others.

Drugs and drug addiction have been with the humanity for a long time. What’s different about today? The availability of powerful drugs that not only make people insensible, but can kill them instantly. Some of these drugs can cause lifelong physical and/or mental disability. As the modern phrase goes, ‘One pill can kill.’

The drugs we will focus on this evening include opioids, methamphetamines a dizzying mix of others. Part of the problem is that many of these complex drugs are relatively easy to make. A larger part of the problem is that they are easy to make cheaply in great amounts, while, at the same time, garnering high profits to those who make and distribute them.

The money part is especially important to notice. The profits are high, the input is cheap, the majority of these drugs are illegal and those that are not are illegal to distribute outside of normal medical channels. This has attracted the criminal trade and other actors who compete against each other and disregard or actively oppose law enforcement along with the rule of law and in many countries, even national governments and organized military forces. This is a big deal. It is a worldwide problem. I work with people from the local area, across the state, across the nation and around the world on a regular basis. Always the problem is the same when the person wants to stop or someone wants to help someone else. It boils down to the question, ‘Where can I get help?’

We are going to try and answer that this evening.

Before we go on let me explain how easy it is to get addicted to opioids.

Even now, for example, when a teenager plays sports and gets hurt, with a sprain, for example, they may be offered opioids to ease the pain.  I had a sprain about four months ago and I was offered very powerful opioids to help ease the pain. 30 days worth.

Opioids are a poison.  They have long been regarded as that and for a very long time doctors have been reluctant to prescribe them for anything except extreme pain (on a limited basis) or for end-of-life care.

About twenty years ago an outdated idea was circulated by a large pharmaceutical company, and followed along by others, that said that if you take opioids for pain you can’t get addicted.

That is not true. If a person takes opioids for 7 to 15 days the human body will become accustomed to it. It will expect the drug. If the use continues for more than 30 days the body is now dependent upon it. That’s just what happens. It happens to the human body. That’s what opioids do to the human body. If use is continued longer than that up around 45, 60 to 90 days, and these numbers are approximate, it will be different for different people and doses, if that continues, the body will become addicted.

To return to the teenager, or anyone, if you follow the instructions on the bottle and then stop taking them, you may feel pain and discomfort. This often leads to getting a refill or two. Then the damage is done. After people sometimes find out, if they are cut off from the prescription, that they can get opioids elsewhere. From a friend, from a dealer. Incredibly, at least these days, heroin is cheaper in most areas than the manufactured opioids. It’s all bad.

For the other drugs mentioned, methamphetamines, cocaine and others, social circles and behaviors play a part in first and continuing use.

There are various ways to tell if someone is using drugs and here we will begin the third part of the presentation – what can you do?

We heard about the lion and the mouse. The mouse called for help and the lion showed up to help. If you ask for help, I guarantee you someone is going to come to your aid. From then on it’s a team effort.

Well, who are you gonna’ call? I’m not going to say, ‘Ghostbusters’, but if you do call ‘Ghostbusters’, let them hear you!

When you do begin this search please keep in mind that if you don’t get the answer you need the first time or you don’t get the help you need that time, ask again, ask someone else. Knock on another door and just keep knocking and one day that door is going to open and your own friendly lion is going to be standing right in front of you.

When I hear someone tell me about a problem they are having, like a spouse using drugs, or a son or a daughter or a wife or a friend or an uncle or an aunt, or themselves having the problem, I suggest finding a social worker.

How do you find a social worker?

First you can go to a social worker’s office and ask them for help. They will be able to provide you with reasonably priced or free services.

What if you don’t know where one is?

You can call your local health department and ask, ‘Where can I find a social worker?’ They will tell you. You can ask a doctor or a nurse. They will tell you. You can go on the internet and type in this question on Google ‘How do I find a social worker?’ You may see a like pop up with the title ‘Find a Social Worker – Help Starts Here’. The web site for that one is www.helpstartshere.org

 

Click on it, or one like it, look for someone near you – and whoa! Instant lions! All over the place! You’re on the way!

There may be some organization or service group in your area that can help as well. For example in the City of Wayne we have a company by the name of TBI Behavioral & Residential Consultants (TBRC). This organization provides the community with a variety of client-driven, person-centered services and programs designed to treat individuals with a mental health diagnosis, brain injury, and/or substance misuse diagnosis. Guess what? You can call them and ask them yourself. You can find them online at www.elevatetbi.org Some organizations provide telehealth services. That is, you could be really far away and need assistance. If you find the telehealth services you need they may be able to provide that service to you over great distances. Examples would include support for people in sparsely populated parts of the country, like Alaska, west Texas, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and large parts of the Great Plains states, rural Canada, Tribal Areas and Nations. You may have to make your search a little particular for these telehealth services but they are there.

So, the first thing I do when I encounter someone with one of these problems, be it drug addiction, abuse and other things – I ask them if they have talked to a Social Worker. You can find them online, at the library and through your doctor and even places of faith.

Just want to let you know, also, that as you approach these different organizations looking for someone to help, you will be helping them too. First of all they may have someone or many of them, already in a list for you. For those that do not you may be the first person that put a voice and a face on a problem that everyone knows is there but right now, not everyone is talking about. That sort of behavior is the stigma we all working against. See a problem, say a problem, solve a problem.

You are already helping others as you help yourself or a loved one. Do you know what is wrong with that? Nothing. That is good. It is good to help others.

So, now we are looking for a social worker, maybe we have one. Are you a person that attends church, synagogue, temple, mosque or practice any faith? Well, you’ve got a support net there. Many people are afraid or reluctant to talk about these things for fear or being ostracized or treated badly. May happen, probably not though, I don’t know. The reason I mention it is that is part of your support system. That’s your ready-made lion pride right there – or, it can be. It can be tough for some people as their community, you know, their background and their traditions, cast a deep shadow on drugs and drug addiction. It’s that shadow that needs to give way to light so the solution can be worked on.

So, now we have organizations like FAN, social workers, companies and organizations like Elevate TBI and faith organizations. You were looking for one lion and you’ve already got a pride on your side. I cannot emphasize enough that you are not alone. That there are people literally living their lives waiting to hear from you so they can spring into action. Reach out to them.

Let’s not forget basic assistance or indirect assistance. We are in a library right now. This place is filled up with books. I can literally walk out into the library right now and either pull down a book that will teach me about addiction and how to deal with it or I can ask one of the lionbrarians, oooh, I can ask a librarian to help me get one, two, a dozen, a hundred, three hundred and they will help me. They will direct me to local services. They will help me navigate the internet. They will search things for me. They will find things for me. 

When someone starts to recover from drugs, from opioids, for example, it can take up to 12 days for withdrawals to pass. Things can be done to either ease it or at least understand it. After withdrawal is done, whether on purpose or, as in some cases, because someone went to jail and detoxified, it can take up to 16 months for body and mind to heal. There’s a time frame for you. There’s two goals for you. A lot of people I talk to are not aware of that. Now you are.

Other drugs have varying time frames but the main things to do, and there are others, this isn’t a complete list, but the main things to do is, number one, stop using the drug. Easier said than done, fine, that may be, but what needs to be done to stop using the drug? The person needs to stop going to where the drugs are or may be found. The person will likely need to stop hanging out with others who use or sell drugs or even think they are okay. It’s a big a social step. Some people don’t know how to deal with that.

That is where a counselor comes in. Where can you find a counselor? Well, you know how to find a social worker, organized assistance, health assistance and even community assistance now – all of those channels can lead you to a counselor and peer recovery coaches and family peer coaches. You can also look them up directly – again, through the internet, at the library, through a hospital directory.

What kind of counselor are you looking for? Mental hygiene, mental health, is very important when dealing with drugs and when getting away with them. You will be looking for mental health professionals.

One online resource to find a mental health professional that will suit your needs is online – that is, through the internet.

You can find the resource from NAMI – that’s the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the name of this item is : ‘Finding a Mental Health Professional’. You can Google that, NAMI ‘Finding a Mental Health Professional’. Or – if you have athletic fingers you can type in https://www.nami.org/Your-Journey/Individuals-with-Mental-Illness/Finding-a-Mental-Health-Professional. Whew! That’s a long one.  

You can also just look up NAMI and Drug Addiction and that will give you great information and resources.

Before we go any further. What about the kids? What do you do when children are involved? In this case we are talking about the children of parents who are struggling with drug addiction. They will need counseling as well and understanding and ways to relate and communicate what they are experiencing. Thankfully, many of the channels we already looked at will have pathways for this sort of care for the children.

Sesame Street does well with dealing with this problem and I recommend their items for anyone whether they are dealing with it or not. 

First of all you can find it online by looking up Sesame Street in Communities and parental addiction. They have resources and support material there. Now life has to go on and many parents take on the role of parenting their grandchildren are parted from their own parents by the drugs and that lifestyle. 

 

It’s important for everyone to stay healthy, keep active, eat right, stay hydrated and find things of interest. Learning, playing, living and loving. All remain important and should not be neglected. 

https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/parental-addiction/

There are many resources for children exposed to drugs, using them or potentially being exposed to them.

NIDA, which the National Institute on Drugs, features a large amount of materials suitable for children, teens and young adults.

You can go to NIDA.gov or look up NIDA for Teens. That’s at teens.drugabuse.gov

 

There are materials there for the children, for parents, other adults and family members and teacher and educators. 

I would just like to say at this point that I think it would be so wonderful that if all of this material were common and known about across television, radio, the movies, newspapers and all the news media and social media. When that happens, and you, by listening to this, are making it happen, when that happens then stigma will be gone and these problems can be greatly reduced and eradicated.

Let’s stop back now to FAN as an example of a dynamic organization. I assure you, though I am focusing on FAN for this next portion, that all the projects they are engaged in, are being carried out somewhere near you. If not all of them – a great many of them.

The people that run them can assist you and your loved ones. You will also help them just by being there.

These include HARM:LESS – HARM:LESS is the harm reduction initiative of Families Against Narcotics. It focuses on reducing the negative consequences associated with substance use disorder and, first and foremost, saving lives. Our HARM:LESS Support Team members meet people where they're at—in parks, on the street, etc.—and help connect them with the essentials they need to stay safe, healthy, relatively comfortable...and alive. In a perfect world, we’d love to see everyone who struggles with addiction seek treatment. But the world isn’t perfect, and we want people who aren’t ready for treatment to know that they matter, too. And that we care about them.

COMEBACK - Comeback aims to assist survivors of drug overdoses.

Within days of a person experiencing a non-fatal drug overdose, a Quick Response Team--comprised of a police officer, a peer recovery coach and family recovery coach--will perform a post-overdose wellness check to offer the individual the help and resources they deserve.

 

HOPE NOT HANDCUFFS

A person struggling with any substance use disorder can come to any of the participating police agencies and ask for help. They will be greeted with support, compassion, and respect. If accepted into the program*, the individual will be guided through a brief intake process to ensure proper treatment placement.

 

NAVIGATE

When someone is new to or seeking recovery, everyday life can be a huge challenge. It can be like trying to get somewhere you’ve never been—without a map. That’s why Families Against Narcotics designed a recovery coaching program called Navigate, which acts as sort of a GPS on the road to recovery, providing DIRECTION to both individuals and families who have been affected by substance use disorder.

 

STRONGER TOGETHER

Your loved one is leading a destructive life – but that doesn’t mean your life has to be destroyed as well. Stronger Together is an addiction support group for family and friends of those struggling with addiction. Following a recovery plan written specifically for families, you’ll learn to support your loved one in a way that is healthy for both of you.

Meetings are available on Zoom

 

 

FAN FORUMS

These take place once a month and feature a speaker or set of speakers talking about the issues surrounding this problem with drugs including the drugs themselves, addiction, family issues, recovery, legal issues, medical issues and much more. You can start your own chapter and go from there!

NALOXONE TRAINING

Naloxone is a medication called an "opioid antagonist" used to counter the effects of opioid overdose, for example a heroin overdose. Naloxone only functions if a person has opioids in their system; the medication has no effect if opioids are absent.

SOBER LIVING SCHOLARSHIPS

Families Against Narcotics is dedicated to saving lives by empowering individuals and communities to prevent and eradicate addiction. If you are a person in recovery that has left a rehabilitation program and do not have a source of immediate income, there are options to help cover some of the costs associated to moving into a sober living facility through our scholarship funding program.

 

Other organizations you can contact are Al-Anon for those struggling with alcohol. Nar-Anon for those struggling with drugs. Both organizations have online meetings and a lot of information online for you. You are not alone.

 

There is so much more. The point of all this talking was, when dealing with drugs, alcohol, drug addiction or other problems – to answer this question, ‘What can I do?’

The answer is lots.

You are not alone.