by Karen Perry

[NOPE Task Force candlelight vigils are held every October, during Red Ribbon Week, a campaign created to raise awareness about alcohol, tobacco and other drug use. These candlelight vigils honor those who died of drug overdose.]

During the last week of October, NOPE Task Force organizes dozens of candle light vigils across the United States and Canada in memory of those lost to and those suffering from substance abuse.

We’ve done this for many years for one main reason: to raise awareness and open the doors to recovery by eliminating the prejudice that has followed the disease of addiction.

It’s a mission NOPE has supported since our founding a decade ago. But changing this attitude isn’t easy.

Too many people still think of addiction as a moral failing. In many circles, addiction is still spoken of in hushed tones, and patients and their families are considered weak and somehow deserving of their fate and are less worthy of our care. The stigma associated with the disease of addiction is one of the largest contributors to our nation’s drug overdose epidemic.

So how do we change this?

Let’s start by getting people into treatment. Many people who struggle with an addictive disorder fail to seek treatment, partially because of their fear that they will be labeled as an “addict,” and that the stigma will stick to them in both their professional and personal lives. If we removed the guilt and shame from the equation, more people would find it easier to make a realistic assessment of their substance problems and discuss it openly with health care providers.

The medical profession is another place to address stigma. For many years, doctors were slow to recognize addiction as treatable, and so patients were left to find help outside of the traditional medical community. Today, the medical community is recognizing unhealthy, addictive behavior as part of its focus on patients and applying evidence-based approaches in their practices. We need to make sure that continues and expands as advocated by the federal healthcare reforms.

Additional funding for drug treatment also should be factored in to fight stigma. As we know, there’s a huge impact and cost of addictive disorders on our society, but the funding for such treatment is disproportionately low compared to many other forms of medical illnesses. For many, the coverage that’s available is not sufficient, leaving them without the treatment needed at critical moments that can alter the course of their lives. In a world without stigma, addiction should be paid for on a level playing field with other medical problems.

Stigma follows people even in recovery, especially when it comes to employment, education, insurance, the ability to vote, and many other important aspects of living. Just because someone struggled with addiction in the past should not make life that much more difficult today.

Students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil at The Ohio State University on October 29. 2015 (photo courtesy of Wendy Lin).

Things have to change.

By eliminating stigma and prejudice, the tragic loss of life from drug and alcohol related deaths will diminish. With the removal of shame comes the hope for recovery and survival.

That’s what we’ll strive to accomplish during our vigils.

Join us in making this happen.

Learn about our vigils here: nopetaskforce.org/about-vigils.php

This article was originally published on nopetaskforce.org.

Karen Perry is the executive director of NOPE Task Force.

by Kenneth M. Hale

The misuse of prescription drugs and the resulting effects on our society is one of our most serious public health problems. This phenomenon has a bearing on the development of substance use disorders, worker productivity, personal relationships, the rising epidemic of heroin use, drug overdose deaths, and more. Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones (Bloomsbury Press, 2015) does a masterful job of elucidating an important aspect of this problem – factors driving the misuse of opioid pain medications and their relevance to the upsurge in the use of black tar heroin. This book is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the influence of pressures to enhance treatment regimen for chronic pain, marketing approaches within the pharmaceutical industry, unscrupulous prescribing practices in so called “pill mills,” and a different business model for providing black tar heroin to those becoming dependent on these substances. Underlying all of this is a change in our culture, signaling a departure from “Dreamland” and the strength of our communities which can serve as a deterrent to this opiate epidemic that thrives in the isolation of our citizens.

Sam Quinones, author of “Dreamland”

I had the opportunity to interview Sam Quinones for a short podcast to be posted soon by the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery (HECAOD.osu.edu). I asked him about the significance of the Dreamland story for our college campuses. After all, we know that the traditional college student is at the average age when the misuse of prescription medications begins. So the lessons learned through his exhaustive research surely have relevance to our prevention efforts among college students. His response and his stories, like the fundamental theme of his book, relate to culture. How can we return to a collegiate dreamland were more of our students focus on the excitement of learning as opposed to the misuse of alcohol and drugs? How can we ensure that student athletes are not exposed to potentially dangerous pain medications in the interest of keeping them on the playing field? How can we make sure that more of our students have access to collegiate recovery communities to support their successful navigation of the college experience?

As Mr. Quinones spoke, our need for more holistic environmental approaches to prescription drug misuse prevention was on my mind. We certainly need to use resources such as those provided through the Generation Rx Initiative (GenerationRx.org) to educate our students about safe medication practices, but “Dreamland” will be built around other efforts as well. We must establish policies to guide our use of medications and consequences for misuse. We must partner with law enforcement, counseling services, student health, residence and Greek life, and disability services. We must engage well-trained peer educators. We must incorporate screening, brief interventions, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) models relating to prescription drug misuse. We must provide safe alternatives for our students to prevent recreational drug misuse or self-medicating tendencies. We must limit student accessibility to medications that are not prescribed for them by educating those who have prescription drugs legitimately about secure storage and by providing drug disposal options. And we must consider mechanisms for making naloxone available on our campuses to help prevent opiate overdose deaths.

Mr. Quinones has chronicled how Portsmouth, Ohio, has come “up from the rubble” to emerge from their status as “ground zero” in the opiate epidemic. Together, through the use of a more holistic approach to medication safety, we can help keep our campuses and our students out of the rubble as well.

Kenneth M. Hale, RPh, PhD, serves as Co-Director of the Generation Rx Initiative, Associate Director of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery at The Ohio State University, and clinical professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. His professional interests and specializations include prescription drug misuse prevention. He recently was awarded Cardinal Health’s Pillar of Strength Award for his work with the Generation Rx Initiative.

by Christyn Bergquist

From Nancy Regan’s “Just Say No” to the more recent “Above the Influence,” there have been many well-known campaigns geared toward warning young people to stay away from drugs and alcohol.  At the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the office of Health Education and Promotion is launching a new campaign: “Have A Plan.”

The concept of “Have A Plan” is based on mindful and intentional decision-making.  The “Have A Plan” campaign was realized when we acknowledged the decisions that students continuously make regarding alcohol, drugs and other hot button topics.  We committed to encouraging students to think about their choices and create a plan for their approach before they find themselves in risky situations.  Instead of saying “don’t do this” or “do that,” we want to give students as much information as possible in hopes that it will resonate with them or spark a change in their thought process that influences positive choices.

To promote the “Have A Plan” campaign we created ten posters, each of which are dedicated to a unique topic: getting involved, going out, sleep, getting consent, eating well, staying active, quitting smoking, taking medications, studying and managing stress.  Each poster contains suggestions for making decisions related to the topic.  Each suggestion is intentionally short and to the point because students are unlikely to stop and read much longer text while on-the-go.  Our strategy is to have the posters displayed all over campus and integrate them into university-owned social media outlets so that students are exposed to our messaging multiple times.  We hope that repeat exposure will encourage students to more seriously consider topics they may not have reflected on previously.  With this reflection we hope to influence them to have a plan for these situations.

Image courtesy of Christyn Bergquist.

One of the topics addressed in the poster series is “Taking Medications” (pictured).  We know that most students who use prescription drugs for nonmedical use get these drugs from a friend.  We wanted to make it clear that students should not share their medications with others and that this is a specific violation in our conduct code.  As we discuss this posters with students, we emphasize the impact that choosing to share their medication or taking medication not prescribed to them may have on their college career.  Many students arrive on campus without thinking about how they will manage their medication.  They may not expect a peer to be interested in using their medication.  Hopefully, through this campaign, we will raise awareness of this possibility and be prepared to respond.

As we progress into the first semester of this campaign, we are integrating the concept of “Have A Plan” into many of our outreach efforts, including class room presentations and campus programming.  Our goal is to influence students to be prepared with a plan and the ability to make a mindful decision and response in high risk situations, minimizing their involvement in high risk behavior and increasing their potential for success.

Christyn Bergquist is the Coordinator for Health Education at UMass Lowell.  Her focus is on alcohol and other drugs and mindfulness practices.  Christyn earned her MBA from Nichols College and her BS in sociology from University of Massachusetts Lowell.