A Drug Awareness Event for parents, grandparents and guardians drew more than 200 to the Montgomery County Courthouse on July, 19 to hear from experts, law enforcement, and others on the opioid epidemic in Mississippi and across the country.
According to local organizers, Sharon Kent and Melissa Acy, the event was organized to promote drug awareness in the home and community and includes a special mock teen bedroom.
Kent and Acy organized the event in Montgomery County, but Stand Up Mississippi, Narcotics Anonymous, NAR-ANON Family Group, Mississippi State Department of Health, Life Help, Stonewater Recovery, Addiction Campuses, Celebrate Recovery, Families First of Mississippi, the Winona Police Department, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, Someone’s Child, and the One-Eighty Program participated by setting up an informational table or volunteering.
Prior to a question and answer panel, several speakers enlightened the packed house on drug addiction and its impact individually, in the family, and in the community.
“I became an ordained minister because I am asked to do so many weddings and funerals,” said a 14-year recovering addict who works with those suffering from addition.
He explained that these days, “kids start using on July 1 and are dying by July 10.”
That sentiment was followed by the story of a Mississippi college student who died after trying a synthetic drug -- “some 500 times stronger than heroin” -- at a party. His mother said he wasn’t an addict, and his drug use and subsequent death the result of first time use.
Another recovering addict detailed his 17 year addition to prescription drugs, starting with benzodiazepines prescribed for depression and later mixing those with opioids prescribed after he hurt his back.
“I’m one of the lucky ones who didn’t die, and got treatment,” he said. “I celebrated three years last week.”
John Dowdy, director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, said, “We have a drug problem in Mississippi. It is not just about opioids. There have been 19,600 drug related arrests in Mississippi in 2017.”
Dowdy said that of the 110 accidental drug overdoses in Mississippi last year, 81 were opioid or heroin related.
“Forty-three counties reported at least one drug overdose in 2018,” Dowdy said.
A panel of experts – Dowdy; Deanna Cummings , licensed social worker at One-Eighty Program at UMMC Grenada; Tarik Johnson- Youth Court Judge and Family Master for Montgomery County; Ann Rodio, Program Administrator for the State Targeted Response Opioid Grant with the Mississippi Department of Health; Angela Mallette- Community Outreach Coordinator of the State Opioid Grant and Stand Up Mississippi; Elizabeth Fike, communications director for Stonewater Recovery – answered questions submitted by the audience about the myths of drug use and resources available for families.
“Drug addiction is a disease,” Dowdy said. “We’ve got to remove the stigma of addition or we are going to continue to lose our young adults.”
Kent said after the program she saw several people speaking with experts about addition.
“I know of at least one family that was referred to treatment that night,” Kent said.
In addition, Kent said 62 people were trained in the use of NarCan, a life-saving drug for those who have overdosed, and 62 doses of NarCan were distributed.
As for future events, Kent said the success of last week’s event has encouraged she and Acy to continue to education the public on drug abuse.
“We are in the beginning stages of finding a trailer to take the Mock Room on the road,” Kent said.
A Mock Room, the first of its kind in North Mississippi open to the public, was available for guests to browse through at the event. The purpose of The Hiding in Plain Sight Mock Room is to illustrate what can be hiding in plain sight inside a child’s room.
