It’s no secret that Mississippi is battling an opioid crisis, along with the rest of the nation.
But while most people are likely aware of that fact, it’s easy to gloss over its true scope.
Sure, there are lots of numbers. In 2017, nearly 183,000,000 dosage units of opioids were prescribed in Mississippi, enough to give 61 pills to each person living in the state. National employers spend $2.6 billion on addiction treatment, compared to $400 million spent in 2006. Painting a true picture, however, is more difficult.
“There is no corner of this state not affected by this crisis,” Angela Mallette, outreach coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, said in a meeting with the Daily Journal editorial board. “It’s in every corner of the state, in every county. You’d be hard pressed to find someone not affected by it. Addiction touches everyone.”
Mallette works with Stand Up Mississippi, a collaboration of state and federal agencies dedicated to combating the epidemic. The group grew out of Gov. Phil Bryant’s Task Force on Opioid Addiction.
Stand Up Mississippi has championed outreach, funded treatment, facilitated access to overdose antidote Narcan, and hosted 33 town hall meetings across the state. It is now shifting its attention toward the professions most impacted by opioid addiction.
As the group’s efforts continue, we asked Mallette the greatest challenge they face moving forward.
“It’s the stigma of addiction, of acknowledging it and being nonjudgmental,” Mallette said.
She talked of the depiction she remembers hearing in school that presented addicts as bad people who lived substandard lives. The problem, she said, is such stigma leads to fear. It keeps people struggling with addiction from coming forward. It fuels judgment from peers. And it makes employers resist hiring those in recovery out of concerns doing so will hurt their businesses.
The truth is addiction paints with a broad brush, impacting individuals of all backgrounds. Opioids are such a powerful agent, and addiction – in all of its forms – is such a vicious trap. There are so many stories of people from all parts of society leading normal, everyday lives who suddenly find themselves ensnared. Maybe it started with a surgery, followed by a sudden intense reaction to pain pills that triggered a severe downward spiral.
It is important we remain mindful of the fact that addicts are people no different than you and me. It is important to cut through stigma, to greet with compassion and not condemnation, to support rather than judge.
The epidemic’s reach is deep. The path to ending it will involve collective action. That means reaching out to those who need help, embracing those seeking treatment, and standing by them in their recoveries.
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