By Austin Rust-

Members of the Coalition for a Drug-Free Adams County met Thursday, January 9 in the Adams County Court of Common Pleas, courtesy of Adams County Common Pleas Judge Brett Spencer, to discuss their successes in the last year and brainstorm strategies for moving forward into 2020.
The meeting began with prayer, followed by a call to order, roll call, and the approval of minutes for the Coalition’s last meeting. Coalition for a Drug-Free Adams County Chair Randy Chandler thanked Judge Spencer, and explained this meeting would be to review, reflect, and strategize.
The first committee report was given by Harm Reduction Chairperson Bev Mathias, who began with summarizing the goal of the Harm Reduction Committee, which is to reduce the impact of the drug epidemic in Adams County and its communities. To achieve this, the Committee works to decrease the number of overdose deaths, decrease cases of hepatitis C, decrease cases of HIV, and promote local resources to those who need help, as examples. The Committee also promotes the use of prescription medication drop-boxes. Here, Mathias noted the county’s good fortune in having a drop-box for unwanted medication available 24/7 at the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.
The Harm Reduction Committee advertises National Drug Take-Back Day, which occurs in April and November each year, and promotes the use and distribution of naloxone or narcan in cases of overdose. The Committee works in partnership with the Adams County Health Department, also, which offers free testing for hepatitis C and HIV by appointment, and works to inform the public of needle exchange programs in neighboring Brown, Scioto, and Clermont Counties.
With grant funds through the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and Ohio Safe Prescription Collaborative, the group is also able to distribute free drug deactivation bags, with over 369 given out so far at local events, local pharmacies, and local dentists’ offices. Looking forward, the Committee hopes to expand its reach, with more information available via Facebook, local newspapers, and radio. It also hopes to unite with and support the newly-formed Youth-Led Coalition in Adams County, and make use of a community calendar for events.
Mathias continued with the report for the Supply Reduction Committee, whose goal is to reduce the influx of drugs coming into the community by monitoring, securing, and properly disposing of medications. Mathias noted that a second goal of the Committee is to encourage and establish collaboration with local law enforcement agencies. In future, the group aims to bolster this relationship, and also work in partnership with the Adams County Coroner.
The third committee report was given by Prevention Committee Chairperson Danielle Poe, who began by explaining that in the 2017-2018 school year, data had been collected from the schools in Adams County to identify what puts Adams County youth at risk of substance abuse and other unhealthy behaviors. This data helped the Prevention Committee to formulate its goals moving forward. Poe explained that a major problem the data had identified was that a majority of youth had never been spoken to by their parents about substance abuse or suicide; another was that teenagers reported having easy access to prescription drugs, vaping or tobacco products, alcohol, etc. The data identified a low perception of potential harm from the use of these products among Adams County youth. Further, surveys found that a majority of local students were not involved in extracurricular activities, and many students reported feeling sad, hopeless, or even suicidal.
To address these issues, the Prevention Committee found funding to include Life Skills courses in all Adams County schools, where students learn morals, how to build healthy relationships, how to handle stress, and more. The Committee also helped to form a Youth-Led Coalition in Adams County, which continues to grow. Its other projects include Hidden in Plain Sight, which teaches parents to identify drug paraphernalia in a child’s room, as well as Handle with Care, a program which informs the staff at local schools whenever a student has been exposed to trauma at home. School nurses have also been trained to spot suicidality, and a Suicide Watch group was formed.
Speaking for the Adams County Youth-Led Coalition, Dalton Black explained that his group was successfully formed after four years of hard work, and hit the ground running last year. Black has written articles published in The People’s Defender to make the Youth-Led Coalition’s goals and intentions known, and will soon submit an article laying out the group’s plans for 2020. One goal the group has for 2020 is to manage the Hidden in Plain Sight program, Black noted. In 2020, the group also hopes to identify reasons why Adams County youth get involved in risky behavior.
“The surveys talked about what was going on in their homes, or how they were getting access to (these things), but it didn’t really talk about why they were wanting to do this,” Black explained. Boredom, he continued, may be the prime motivator; Adams County youth may feel that there is nothing for them to be engaged in, especially if they are not involved in extracurricular activities. In 2020, the Youth-Led Coalition will set its focus on putting activities in place for county youth to be involved in, taking note of what other Youth-Led Coalitions in Ohio have done to combat similar issues. The group also hopes to start a mentorship program for students from seventh to 12th Grade in the near future, possibly in the next school year, aiming to promote healthy behaviors.
The fourth committee report was given by Treatment Chairperson Sarah Vaughn, who explained that the goal of the Treatment Committee is to identify more effective ways to improve treatment of substance abuse and addiction. The Committee’s goals in 2019 were to build the collaboration between local facilities, organizations, and services, Vaughn said, in an effort to bring the groups who were working separately together. In 2019, the Committee formed a Quick Response Team, which intervenes in cases of overdose and visits those at risk of overdose. This team consists of 21 volunteers from local churches, law enforcement agencies, and emergency medical services, and has two coordinators which link at-risk people to treatment. The Committee received funds from a grant, Vaughn added, that will allow it to hire three peer recovery supporters to support this effort; these three employees to be hired will have successfully completed substance abuse and addiction treatment programs themselves, allowing them to lead others by good example.
The fifth committee report was given by Advocacy Chairperson Rhonda Burton, who explained that in 2020, the Advocacy Committee’s goal is to advertise and promote more of the Coalition for a Drug-Free Adams County’s events on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Burton noted that there had been interest within the Coalition in bringing the Hope Over Heroin program to Adams County, and explained that according to the program’s requirements, Adams County’s communities were not considered large enough to do so. Burton suggested that Adams County may be able to create a similar faith-based heroin detox program itself, in conclusion.
In the next section of the meeting, it was mentioned that in order to fight the widespread stigma against addicts, a community dinner should be planned in the next year where recovered addicts could serve food. A date, time, and venue for this meal is yet to be set, but it was suggested that it should be held in September, which is Recovery Month. Another suggestion was that instead of bringing a speaker to the event, it may be a better idea to encourage guests to bring someone they know who has recovered from substance abuse or addiction to the meal with them.
In other business, it was also mentioned that BrightView Health, an addiction treatment company with headquarters in Batavia, will soon be opening new facilities in Georgetown and Portsmouth. In total, BrightView plans to open 20 new locations this year. Judge Brett Spencer noted that this was worrying news to him, and explained that if fighting substance abuse and helping people to recover from it is the goal, there should be fewer and fewer of these facilities – not the opposite.
In covering old business, Chandler noted that the GRIT (Growing Rural Independence Together Through Jobs) / Future Plans program is still waiting on $8 million in funding to be dispersed to 3 recipients. Chandler announced several planned meetings later in the month, and encouraged discussion of a Coalition for a Drug-Free Adams County community event in 2020. With no other business, the meeting adjourned.