Thousands of organizations around the United States aim to bring awareness and prevention to the ongoing opioid crisis that takes the lives of many.
Nearly 50,000 people in the United States died from opioid-involved overdoses in 2019 and roughly 21 to 29 percent of patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
One of the organizations that aim to bring awareness to the opioid crisis is the Brockton Area Prevention Collaborative.
The Brockton Area Prevention Collaborative brings together the communities of Brockton, Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Hanson, Raynham, Rockland, and Whitman to educate young people with accurate information and tools to cope with addiction and to inform them of the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol.
Hillary Dubois the director of Prevention Services for High Point Treatment Center and the director of the Brockton Area Prevention Collaborative said she was drawn to the cause early on.
Dubois said that she was in high school when she saw the toll opioid abuse can take.
“Out of my 600 students graduating class, we have lost almost 25 of my classmates to overdoses,” Dubois said.
Dubois later attended Stonehill College where she spent a semester working at an internship in Ireland where she was impressed with how the system in Ireland deals with drug abuse.
“In Ireland, people struggling with addiction were not treated as a stigma, they were treated like humans who needed help,” Dubois said.
If it wasn’t for her experience in high school firsthand witnessing drug abuse and her experience in Ireland witnessing their system, she would not be doing what she is today Dubois said.
Dubois now works with various groups to educate the community including active opioid users, individuals in recovery, their loved ones, service providers, and the community at large about overdose including the signs and symptoms.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, between 8 and 12 percent of people using an opioid for chronic pain develop an opioid use disorder. An estimated 4 to 6 percent who misuse prescription opioids transition to heroin.
Monica Thomas of Worcester has lost a sibling to drug addiction.
“I was just 19 when my brother died due to an overdose. He was struggling for a few years but his struggle didn’t define him as a person, it was more so an addiction he couldn’t control,” Thomas said.
“I think that drug abuse is something everyone, especially teenagers, need to be more aware and informed of,” Thomas said.
According to the Center For Disease Control and Protection, the number of drug overdose deaths decreased by 4% from 2017 to 2018, but the number of drug overdose deaths was still four times higher in 2018 than in 1999.
Learn to Cope a non-profit support network that offers education, resources, peer support, and hope for parents and family members with a loved one addicted to opiates or other drugs is one group many turn to for help.
Joanne Peterson executive director and founder of Learn to Cope, a non-profit support network.
On a podcast titled The Addiction Podcast- Point of No Return, Peterson tells her story of her experience with addiction as well as her drive to start the organization Learn To Cope.
The organization was founded in 2004 by Peterson.
She said was first exposed to the issue when her siblings experiencing issues with mental illness and addiction.
“I was probably around the age of 10. My brother was battling addiction and my sister had a severe mental illness. My brother became addicted to cocaine at a very young age and continued to be in and out of jail,” Peterson said on the podcast.
“I knew my brother was a really good person with a really bad problem,” Peterson said.
Joanne discovered that her own son’s experimentation with prescription drugs led to opioid addiction, she was motivated and empowered to use her voice to bring about change.
“In the early 2000s oxycontin pills became very popular and were everywhere and my son didn’t realize that trying it with a group of friends would change his life for a long time and maybe forever,” Peterson said.
“I wanted to add an educational component to the organization rather than just sitting around talking about our war stories,” Peterson said.
Peterson then started the organization which aims to support, educate, and provide resources for addiction.
According to Mass.gov, since 2000, Massachusetts has seen an exponential increase in unintentional opioid-related overdoses, overdose fatalities, and people seeking substance use treatment, due to the use of prescription opioid painkillers, fentanyl, and heroin.
Today, organizations such as Learn to Cope and The Brockton Area Prevention Collaborative continue to bring awareness to the issue of the opioid crisis to ultimately put an end to the ongoing issue.
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