Courtesy Appalachian Regional Commission
An online report in the Scioto County Daily News by Cyn Mackley posed the question: “Is the increasing number of recovering addicts in Scioto County actually an economic advantage?”
Evidently, a controversy exists. Mackley explained that he growing number of substance recovery facilities and population of recovering addicts in the Portsmouth area has many people lamenting that the only growing demographic in the region are recovering addicts.
Mackley said …
“County Commissioner candidate Josh Lawson says people in recovery are a great asset in economic recovery. He calls it a tremendous advantage that can work for everyone and help bring the county back. Lawson says Scioto County stands in the national spotlight for the rural opioid crisis and that it is not a liability but an asset. 'The whole country knows our story of struggle and decline. Now they are looking at us for answers.'”
Mackley continued, “One candidate for Scioto County Commissioner says yes, but Commissioner Bryan Davis has a differing opinion.”
(Cyn Mackley. “Davis Fires Back at Lawson Claim that Recovering Addicts are an Asset.” Scioto County Daily News. February 18, 2022.)
Difference Of Opinion?
After Thursday’s County Commissioners Meeting, Mackley interviewed Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis to ask his opinion on the topic.
The interview revealed …
“Davis said that there is an increase in the number of recovering addicts in the population, partly because a large number of recovery facilities in the area bring people in from other areas.
“Some rehab facilities are actively soliciting courts to sentence people to the Portsmouth area. That’s a fundamental difference between me and my opponent. He is advocating for more people to come here, more rehabs.”
“Davis said he feels that if the rehab community is successful in rehabilitating people who live in Portsmouth, those numbers should go down.”
(Cyn Mackley. “Davis Fires Back at Lawson Claim that Recovering Addicts are an Asset.” Scioto County Daily News. February 18, 2022.)
Reportedly, Davis also questioned whether recovering addicts could be helpful in filling vacant positions in an understaffed workforce.
Davis said …
“From my understanding from the manner in which they are doing the rehabilitation, a lot of people aren’t available to do shift work, so that’s a problem. I’m hearing that from the people who actually own the businesses.”
(Cyn Mackley. “Davis Fires Back at Lawson Claim that Recovering Addicts are an Asset.” Scioto County Daily News. February 18, 2022.)
Although David admitted he believe there are “success stories,” he is not an advocate of bringing more people into our area. Counties should take care of their own people, have their own rehabs and mental health services. We have a lot of individuals already here.”
Davis talked about the increasing number of SNAP recipients who identify with a rehab program and mentioned some rehab clients drop out of programs and end up in local jails.
Davis said he feels the majority of Scioto County citizens do not agree with bringing more recovering addicts in.
(Cyn Mackley. “Davis Fires Back at Lawson Claim that Recovering Addicts are an Asset.” Scioto County Daily News. February 18, 2022.)
To adequately address the question whether the number of recovering addicts in the county is an “advantage,” as well as whether services here should “bring more people into the area,” a brief history lesson of the opioid epidemic here is in order.
Scioto County was recently the national epicenter of the opioid epidemic. OxyContin, widely known as “hillbilly heroin” because of its abuse in Appalachian communities like Scioto County, had emerged as a major drug of choice. It was the high content of oxycodone that made OxyContin popular on the street. Swarms of people from Ohio and neighboring states came to the county to purchase the product from evil owners and doctors of the mills.
In 2010 ten Pill Mills, or bogus pain clinics, in Scioto county were employing doctors that doled out prescription medications like OxyContin with little discretion. (50% of the mills were owned by convicted Felons.)
Doctors in Pill Mills were pumping out prescriptions for an estimated 35 million pain pills a year – 460 pills for every man, woman and child in Scioto County, home to 76,000 residents, according to 2008 state pharmacy board statistics.
Scioto County was home to a leading prescriber/dispenser oxycodone in the nation (for the third time in 10 years), and an entire sub-economy in the country was based on “pill dealing.”
(Lisa Roberts, R.N. “Waging the War Against the Devil in Scioto
County:
A Grassroots Response to Prescription Drug Abuse in a
Rural Community.” Portsmouth City Health Department.)
The results?
In 2007, unintentional drug poisoning became the leading cause of injury death in Ohio, surpassing motor vehicle crashes for the first time on record. This trend continued through 2010.
From 1999 to 2011, Ohio’s death rate due to unintentional drug poisonings increased 440 percent, and the increase in deaths was driven largely by prescription drug overdoses.
Scioto County saw a 360 percent increase in accidental drug-overdose deaths and had the highest hepatitis C rate in Ohio, a rate that has nearly quadrupled in five years.
Sixty-four Scioto County babies born in 2009 came into the world with drugs in their system – nearly one in 10 births.
Swamped drug treatment centers in the area were turning away thousands of locals who needed help for prescription-drug addiction.
(Aaron Marshall. “Prescription drug epidemic brings Southern Ohio county to its knees.” The Plain Dealer. Cleveland.com. February 27, 2022. Updated: January 12, 2019.)
But, Scioto fought back.
Through efforts like the community “Take Back” project in 2010, a call to action was launched. In January 2020, Scioto established an Rx Action Team with representatives from various health, police, and government organizations. The team met monthly, held three town halls, and published a news series titled “In a World of Hurt.” Also, it declared a Public Health Emergency and petitioned the Governor for help that year.
Soon, grassroots organizations like Fix the Scioto
County Problem of Drug Abuse, Misuse, and Overdose sprang up. “Fix”
quickly drew 3,874 Members on Facebook as a public forum to discuss
prescription drug abuse and establish communication mechanisms like a
confidential “Tip Line” and voluntary witnesses.
SOLACE,
a support group for people who lost someone due to drug addiction or
drug-related crimes, was established and held monthly meetings with
members and various representatives.
And, finally, in 2011, Ohio lawmakers unanimously passed Ohio House Bill 93 mandating the State Board of Pharmacy to license pain management clinics and, further, providing for clinics to be licensed as terminal distributors of dangerous drugs with a pain management clinic classification. Moreover, the law prohibited the operation of a pain clinic without such a license.
Thanks to these efforts and many more, the last of the pill mills were shut down on December 20, 2011, when Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine teamed with the Ohio Board of Pharmacy and Scioto County officials to raid the Greater Medical Advance office in the Wheelersburg clinic.
What a victory. Yet, soon, as we all knew would happen, heroin (another opioid, cheaper and illegal) began to take the place of OxyContin and other presciption drugs. A major and decisive victory had been won, but another battle had just begun. The war continues. We must find new and better strategies to defeat addiction.
The Story?
Scioto County was among the first areas in the nation to address the widespread abuse of opioids. In fact, the county became a well-know model for other communities fighting their own RX abuse. Ohio Governor Kasich became a staunch supporter of Scioto abuse fighters. Local representatives even had a meeting with national Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske at the Appalachian Regional Commission to discuss avenues of care and treatment.
To date, tremendous progress has been made. Yet, as with any other debilitating and lingering epidemic, the public must fight the temptation to expect quick cures and yield to false solutions.
First of all, we must understand that a stigma has developed concerning opioid addiction. Opioid addiction doesn't respect social or economic boundaries. It is a popular myth that a heroin addict – “those druggie people” – can be easily identified at first sight.
Just consider the absurdity of being able to identify a heroin addict by appearance. The common physical stereotype of an addict is a media invention used as an accepted visual aid to inform the viewer of a base character, not an accurate description of a diseased individual. Can one claiming to "know" the look of heroin addiction also easily delineate a heroin addict from a person suffering with mental illness, depression, cancer, liver disease, prescribed medication, or just the burden of life itself?
We all know that addiction strikes all people, not just those many consider undesirables. If nothing more, the opioid epidemic in Scioto County has proven that addiction cripples and kills all – rich and poor, young and old. Who believes we should prioritize treatment based on class, economic standing, or any other distinguishing social factor?
Should we really make our priorities about “bringing more people into the area” or “growing SNAP numbers” or “soliciting courts to sentence people to the area”? Are these things simply outgrowths of the struggle to overcome addiction? Should we limit help to those who live within boundaries on a map or particular legal jurisdictions?
Let's be honest.I fear some would rather stigma dictate action than need. We all know that many see both locals and those from nearby areas with a substance use disorder as undesirables and even as expendable casualties in the war against drug abuse.
In 2010, there were 2.3 million inmates in the U.S. – more than half of whom had a history of substance abuse and addiction. People being held in prison for drug-related offenses are ill. Treatment can reduce recidivism rates from 50 percent to something more like 20 percent, according to the DEA. Yet it is not widely provided.
The biggest problem with treatment is an ideological one, not a practical one. In spite of all of the proven clinical and social and economic benefits of pharmacological treatment, people really have a moral opposition to it. They believe by providing offenders treatment, the legal system is not addressing their addiction in an appropriate way. They think people who have addictions deserve what they get, and that the only way to treat addiction is abstinence: nothing could be further from the truth.
Bob May, associate director of the Association of State Correctional Administrators, says,“We know from the research that with people who go through drug treatment, even if they still use drugs afterwards, their crimes are less violent and less frequent. Even if it’s not a 100 percent change, it’s a good thing.”
(Mary Carmichael. “The Case for Treating Drug Addicts in Prison.” Newsweek. June 28, 2010.)
Incarceration and overdose represent two sides of the same coin. Both carry stigma and shame and both are perpetuated by a lack of needed reform based on research about justice and clinical medicine. The poor and people of color are over-represented among those arrested for drug possession.
My Understanding
True, treatment is in extremely high demand, but it is grossly underfunded by the government. Intervention – counseling, incarceration, chemical treatment – should be judged by its ability to save lives, not by worries of public perception or physical boundaries.
If economic conditions have worsened in Scioto County, we must look to the true causes for the decline. Any sense of liability rests with many contributing factors including the loss of traditional industries such as mining, manufacturing, textiles, and paper and wood products; population out-migration; unemployment; poor health; and severe educational disparities.
To close, I want to stress that the epidemic is our problem – a reality. It originated and developed on our watch, and now we have the responsibility to treat and to heal people with the disease of substance addiction – all people, Is treatment giving us some kind of “economic advantage”? That is a perception for conservatives to consider, not me. I agree with Candidate Lawson – we need to focus on recovery to “bring the county back” and consider the success of the struggle as “a great asset.”
I know the Scioto County
response to opioid abuse is a model for the nation.
Lisa Roberts
Just ask my friend, Lisa Roberts.
Lisa is the Project Director for a Drug-Free Communities Support Program in Scioto County and specializes in community engagement, environmental strategies, and the prevention and treatment of substance use and abuse. She helped pilot Ohio’s first Community-Based Naloxone Program, Project DAWN, which has been replicated across Ohio.
In 2017, she helped the county gain a federal Rural Health Opioid Program through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) which is designed to enhance local response to the opioid crisis. Lisa collaborates with numerous federal research grant recipients to study the opioid epidemic and its collateral consequences to better inform national response strategy and public health science.
Perhaps, the Scioto County Daily News should interview Lisa. I'm pretty sure what her response will be. Maybe there will be a followup report.
“People
don't morally approve of helping weak-willed individuals because
addicts are responsible for their suffering, and they deserve to pay
dearly for their sins.”
“However, there seemed no
correlation between having a (self-assessed) strong will and recovery
status. Rather, the number of strategies cited by participants
distinguished those in stable recovery from those who were not.
Participants in recovery were also more enthusiastic about strategies
than those who have not succeeded in controlling substance use.
Willpower remained important, but was itself used strategically.”
(AnkeSnoek, JeanetteKennett, and Neil Levy. “Strong-willed but not successful: The importance of strategies in recovery from addiction.” Addictive Behaviors Reports Volume 4, December 2016, Pages 102-107.)
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