Opioid Addiction Task Force
Maria Coutant Skinner
Maria Coutant Skinner is a licensed clinical social worker and director of McCall Center in Torrington, which provides psychological services to underserved populations. She is also a member of Torrington Rotary and head of the district's joint task force to fight the Opioid Crisis. She lives in Canton and has two daughters, Emma and Abigail, who have both one scholarships through Canton Dollars for Scholars which were funded by the Avon-Canton Rotary.
She started by saying that the opioid crisis is a tough topic, because it also involved suicides and depression. Opioids have resulted in ore deaths in one year that the Vietnam War claimed in its entirety. One of the things which feeds addiction is weak connections with other people, which leads to depression and vulnerability. While most people use pain medications for pain, some seek out the meds to relieve stress.
A root cause for susceptibility to addiction is trauma, often an adverse experiences. One study which provided some insight worked with people who were severely overweight. They were put on a healthy diet and monitored for an extended period. Most participants lost a significant amount of weight. Then many of them regained the weight. When the participants were interviewed, it was discovered that those who regained the most had experienced childhood trauma, often rape or sexual abuse. Eating to excess was a way to deal with uncomfortable emotions by using the excess weight to be less attractive and to keep potential predators at a safe distance.
Many young people have an opportunity to experiment with drugs, whether at school, at parties, or in their neighborhoods. Many can try the drugs and leave them alone afterward. However, the young person with traumatic experiences will be especially vulnerable. Adolescence makes addiction more threatening because it is a time of greater confusion about identity and less understanding about ways to deal with difficult personal issues.
Although there are other sources of opioids, the most common way to obtain opioids initially is diversion. Diversion is using drugs that were appropriately prescribed for another person. A teenager can find opioids the medicine cabinet of a parent or other family member and share them at a party. People who would never knowingly provide such drugs to their children make access to them possible through carelessness.
Knowing that diversion is something that can be avoided if people are educated and given a way to dispose of potentially dangerous drugs, the Rotary - Lions Addiction Task Force decided to focus Year 1 to preventing diversion. There was Take Back the Drug Day in the spring to let people drop off their drugs which were then safely disposed of. There has been education about ways to dispose of drugs at other times - taking them to police stations who have disposal facilities or using bags which render the drugs useless. If diversion could be curtailed, the source of 65% of the drugs which lead to addiction could be kept from this dangerous use.
Now that steps have been taken to reduce diversion, there is a movement to Phases 2 & 3 of the work to fight the crisis:
Phase 2 is to educate employers about ways to recognize addiction and how to address the problem. Pullman and Comley is developing a module for this purpose. Phase 3 is working with other groups in the community who are fighting opioid addiction, including police, hospitals, and other organizations who could achieve more if they work together.
