Helping those in recovery
GRAYSON 'I'm here to thank you for giving a damn,' Russell Coleman, Kentucky Attorney General, told the crowd at Bridges Out of Addiction on Tuesday. 'My grandmother would not like me talking like that, but I'm here to thank you for giving a damn.'
Coleman was the afternoon keynote speaker for the sixth annual Bridges Out of Addiction at the Ashland Community & Technical College Technology Drive Campus.
'The only way we can make headway is a three-legged stool. One of those legs is prevention, one of those legs is treatment, one of those legs is enforcement,' Coleman said.
Regarding the enforcement leg, Coleman said his office has made a priority of going after drug dealers 'who bring these poisons into our community.'
He brought up the improvements in treatment in the state in the last five years.
'Five years ago, you had to get on waiting list,' Coleman said.
He said the state now has more treatment beds per capita than any other state.
'As the AG, my job is to make sure those beds are efficient,' he said, adding his office works to ensure the treatment facilities in the state operate to help those needing treatment and not simply as a money-making business.
'We have failed on the prevention front,' Coleman said. 'It's the hardest leg to measure. How do you measure a negative? You measure it by saved lives.'
Coleman said the state introduced a 'Better Off Without It' campaign last year.
'How do we get to where the kids are?' Coleman said. 'We're leveraging the technology that is being used for ill, leveraging it for good.'
The program is utilizing social media to reach children.
'This might be the most important thing I do,' Coleman said.
He told of an example of the ad campaign that will use college athletes in hopes of stepping up prevention.
'You want to wear this jersey, you're better off without it,' Coleman said one of the ads will say. 'Most of you in this room will never see these ads.'
He added that means the ads are reaching their targeted audiences. He told of a picture on his phone of a rising college student who took a single pill and was found dead in his bed in the morning.
'We know the drug threat is proving it has zero margin of error,' Coleman said.
'We are going to partner with those who are appropriate to reach our youth,' Coleman said. 'I welcome partnerships, I'm here to listen, I'm here to learn.'
That partnership approach was a key aspect of those in attendance.
Outside of the room, the hallways were lined with tables showcasing different opportunities and businesses that can provide help for those in recovery and those in addiction, and even help with prevention.
Paul Patrick, court liaison with Southern Hope Recovery in Portsmouth, stressed the importance of working together to meet the needs of those battling addiction.
'It's great to meet and make connections with all of these resources,' Patrick said. 'If we feel we can't meet a clients' needs, we know who can.'
Another group looking to build roads in the region was Healing Appalachia.
The group puts on a concert where the proceeds go to help those in recovery.
'We buy vans for recovery houses, we pay for the roofs on the houses,' Cliff Masey, volunteer coordinator with the concert, said.
The concert recently announced it is moving from Lewisburg, West Virginia, to Boyd County for its annual concert in September.
While a lineup has not been announced, Tyler Childers is a perennial headliner who uses the concert to bring other artists to raise not only funds, but also awareness of the opioid crisis in Appalachia.
'It takes a lot of effort to put on the concert,' Masey said.
While those on stage bring in the concert goers, Masey said the concert is put on by those in recovery.
'Volunteers will put up the fences, build the stage; from the trash pickup all the way up, it will be people in recovery,' Masey said.
The coordinators building connections with recovery houses in the area to fill the need for volunteers to put on the concert at the Boyd County Fairgrounds on Sept. 19 and 20.
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