A very successful drug forum took place on May 10 in Paulding County at the Paulding County OSU Extension Building. It was very disheartening to listen to the drug crisis that is happening, not only across the nation, but in northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana.
The list of speakers included Jason Lander, Paulding County Sheriff; Rob McColley, State Senator; Elizabeth Zartman, Juvenile Court Truancy Officer; Craig Riedel, State Representative; Judge Tiffany Beckman, Drug Court Judge and Initiator, Drug Court Graduates Scott Meyer???, and ???; Jennifer Lloyd, Director of drug outreach initiatives, of the Ohio Attorney General, Mike DeWine; Dr. Buonocore and Sammie Hall of the Pain Management group; and Michael Schweinsberg, OSU Extension.
The entire range of people were speaking on the extent of the drub problems and how much of that starts with Pain Medicine. Pain Management is a very important way of helping to control the opioid crisis and this is probably the first and one of the most important places to stop the drug problem. The need is very great to ensure that medicine is only in the hands of those for whom it is prescribed.
If opioid drugs gets to the wrong person or a person has a problem stopping after they have started, even prescriptions, it can become a bigger problem for the people and the user. If the problem cannot be controlled then authorities get involved.
The forum talked about what family and friends can do if people get into drug abuse. Judge Tiffany Beckman said, “They have to hit rock bottom before they feel they need help! This is not the same for everyone. For some it’s going to jail.” She talked about the Drug Court and how there have been many who have signed up and are working their way through this. “Over half the users who have graduated have been successful and not returned to drugs.”
Two Phase 3 “students” spoke at the meeting and one, Scott Meyer, said, “I’m lucky to be alive!” Scott stated that he was a good kid and a member of national honor society even though he was on drugs. His initiation to opioids was from a football shoulder injury that started in high school and treated by a doctor who prescribed the pain killer. He said it does not just effect a certain race or gender, “it can affect anyone.” Jessica Beane, 31, another student, said that she started at 16 years old, and in 2006 she started with crack, cocaine, and vicodin. “I moved on to consuming and cooking meth.” she said. She was later arrested by Sheriff Landers and charged with several felonies, but prior to this she had no record. Jessica went to prison and found that it’s easier to get drugs in the lock-up than it is on the outside. Beane stated, “I lied, stole, I cheated. I had no grief, no guilt and no shame. The only thing that mattered was feeding the addiction and everything and everyone else was nothing.”
“Sometimes you have to do things that are unpopular,” Dr. Buonocure of Paulding County Hospital mentioned that prescribing opioids at one time was popular, but now it’s a last resort, and they try to manage pain in other ways. He works to teach people how to manage their pain in the best possible long term solution.
Representative Craig Riedel said that many people have lost hope because of the drug problems in their own families, but Jesus is the answer. There may not be a silver bullet, but we need that hope.
OSU Extension 4H Youth Director spoke last and discussed how 4H is working with students and how he received a grant for “Generation RX”. The funds received have been used for education in the classroom. Michael Schweinsberg said he really knew nothing until he got into the classroom. 6 out of 7 kids use their prescriptions correctly. That means that 15% are not using them correctly. He spoke to all three schools in Paulding County. Michael asked if we, as adults, were being good examples for young people. He said the problem is larger in Ohio than in anywhere else. “Do you know what a skittle party is?” about 5 people shook their heads, yes. He said he learned about it from the students in the school. It’s a party where the a bunch of people (kids) bring their pills from the cabinets and put them all in bowl and they start taking them, knowing nothing about what they are taking, all being wrong. All drugs, prescription or illicit, are not good to keep out. They need to be locked up.
The Sheriff’s office has a drop-off location for drugs to be disposed, so that they are not just laying around for someone to access.
