The Dope on Addiction Recovery: Community

Letter to Ephesians: All in community involvement in a Virginia county is being hailed as the antidote to the nation’s addiction crisis because of its “50% drop in overdose deaths in a year.” Health experts everywhere are scrambling to replicate the secret sauce. It won’t always go down easy ...

As the WSJ story related: Like most communities, Chesterfield County’s fight against addiction seemed daunting. The opioid crisis and drug overdose death rate was out of control. Then, “In this county of nearly 400,000, overdose deaths dropped by half ... about double the decline of the rest of the country. The precipitous drops have astounded public officials and health policy experts, who have traveled across the country in an attempt to learn the formula and replicate it. Governors, members of Congress and sheriffs from as far away as Alaska have come through, along with an acting US drug czar.”

The breakthrough recipe? “Making recovery a community affair” ... and, besides the financial & medical resources needed, having the patience to keep adapting to see what works in which situations. In Chesterfield’s case, “around 4,000 people have been in the program, but the results didn’t happen right away. It took years of sustained cooperation among all the community stakeholders (police, social workers, various health care professionals, etc) to finally effect a reversal of death – something some communities might struggle to pull off.” An all in commitment to educating the addicted and engaging in honest discussions with them about tailored approaches to treatment are key. Group meditations and mentoring are integral too. In short, it kinda takes a village.

Davd Soul