Cooper to speak on drug abuse
By Melinda Harrell
Published in News on August 24, 2016 1:46 PM
The growing epidemic of drug addiction and its far-reaching affects have led multiple public entities in three counties to unite to offer an informational conference in an attempt curb the problem.
The Community Collaborative Drug Conference will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Aug. 29 at the Wayne Center, 208 W. Chestnut St., with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper as guest speaker, as well as local authorities on drug abuse including a representative from the Goldsboro Police Department Narcotics Unit and Nicole Lewis of PORT Human Services.
Sponsored by the 8th District Guardian ad Litem Program and the Community Collaborative, in which membership includes representatives from the Lenoir County Department of Social Services, Eastpointe, Guardian ad Litem, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Carolina Outreach, Family Court, Greene County Public Schools and Easter Seals, the conference was inspired in large part the because of spike in drug abuse in the area.
Community Collaborative chair and district administrator for Guardian ad Litem Colleen Kosinski said the conference is all about education.
"We are so excited. We are very excited for a number of reasons," she said about the conference.
"Certainly we have an opioid epidemic in our district and our entire state. The more information we can bring the better. We are trying to make sure that children and families don't fall through the cracks and a lot of that involves training. We're offering this free training to anyone in the community that is interested."
Ms. Kosinski said that the representative of the narcotics unit at the police department will offer a "street perspective" of drug abuse and Ms. Lewis of PORT will talk about the available treatment resources for those wishing to overcome an addiction.
"We cannot believe that attorney general has a agreed to come," Ms. Kosinski said.
"He has been on the forefront of information, prosecution and treatment as it relates to drugs in our community and will be kicking off the conference."
Eastpointe, an organization that offers treatment service guidance, is a member of the Collaborative and Courtney Boyette, community relations specialist for the organization, said treatment resources can be hard to find.
"So imagine a family, who can't read and write, with no education, it is very difficult for them to figure out how to navigate the system," she said.
"That is why we are all getting together. We know the problem isn't going away."
Andrea Boney-Dickens, DSS system of care specialist, said drug abusers are not the only ones that are affected by the addiction, but their children are as well.
Mrs. Boney-Dickens said the issue of addiction had hit a resounding pitch among the members of the Collaborative in April of this year when the heroin overdose levels had spiked dramatically.
"We were talking about the increase of DSS cases because of the drug increase in Wayne, Lenoir and Greene counties," Mrs. Boney-Dickens said.
"I think in one day they had like six (cases) and over the month, it was like 25 (cases), they were all because of overdoses of heroin."
She said one woman during that time had died of an overdose, and DSS had to come in and get her children for home placement.
Finding placement for these children can be daunting Mrs. Boney-Dickens said, especially when one household has multiple children.
The Guardian ad Litem program also feels the weight of drug abuse through increased cases that need volunteer advocates, said Sabastian Ratliff, Guardian ad Litem Judicial District 8 supervisor.
"We want people from the community to come and get some get information and get the dialogue started," he said.
"This is going to be one of many to come. This is not the only one we are doing. There is going to be several."
Ms. Kosinki said further conferences will include an array of mental health topics, but the Collaborative felt that the drug abuse problem was the most pressing.
"This is the one topic that was the most important," she said.
"The Collaborative has decided that community education is key. We are going to other workshops about mental health, trying to reduce that stigma and increase resources. A lot of people don't get help because they don't want people to judge them and say they are crazy. We just want to show people how to connect with those resources and get what they need and deserve."
To register for the conference, call Andrea Boney-Dickens at 919-587-0345 or email aboney@eastpointe.net.