BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — A panel discussion in Inez on harm reduction and syringe exchange programs intends to clarify misconceptions, increase understanding and empower the community.
The event will be held 10 a.m.-noon Tuesday at the Martin County Cooperative Extension Office.
The panel will consist of community health care and addiction treatment leaders and individuals with lived experience.
Panelists include Stephen Ward, director of Martin County Health Department; Dr. Lesley Dotson with Big Sandy Healthcare; Carmel Cline, BSW, Lead Family Mentor with START (Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams); and Fred Mills, LCADC, specialist with UK Targeted Assessment Program Opioid Use Disorders Project.
“We want to get the message out that people can and do recover from substance use disorders and that any and all pathways of recovery are cause for celebration,” said organizer Fred Mills.
“In order to help, we have to meet people where they are and not where we would like them to be.”
This panel comes at a dire time in Martin County and the nation’s road to recovery. According to the CDC, almost 100,000 Americans lost their lives in 2020 to overdose. The highest overdose death rates were in West Virginia and Kentucky.
Substance use disorder harm reduction strategies focus on reducing the number of overdoses and overall impact on community health.
“It would be great if everyone was ready, willing, and able to maintain complete sobriety,” said Mills. “But we know that is not reality and we have to use every tool we have to reduce harm and save lives.”
Mills likened substance abuse harm reduction strategies to those used with other chronic, fatal illnesses.
“It would be nice if every person diagnosed with heart disease would stop smoking, exercise and eat a healthy diet. We know that many of them will not do this, so we can and do utilize every tool at our disposal to keep them alive and help them have a better quality of life.”
Despite the comparison, Mills points out that many communities do not take the same approach to addiction harm reduction and harm reduction for other illnesses.
“We have communities that limit the number of doses of naloxone first responders can administer to a person who has overdosed,” said Mills. “Can you imagine the outrage if we told the family of a heart attack victim that we could not keep working on their loved one because we had already given them two doses of nitroglycerin or we had already used a defibrillator twice?”
The panel intends to clarify misconceptions about harm reduction strategies like syringe exchange programs and naloxone overdose reversal kits, increase public awareness of substance abuse disorder, and empower the community to effectively support loved ones and neighbors through their battles with substance abuse.
“Using harm reduction strategies to address problems related to substance use disorder improves the public health of Kentuckians by reducing overdoses, overdose deaths and the transmission of blood-borne diseases like HIV and HCV,” said Mills. “We can save lives by increasing access to syringe exchange programs, increasing distribution of naloxone overdose reversal kits, and providing testing for Hepatitis and HIV throughout the community.”
Residents who cannot attend the meeting in person can access it via ZOOM by typing in https://uky.zoom.us/j/89485428976. Follow the instructions on the site. ZOOM participants will also have the option of participating in the meeting by asking questions and voicing concerns.