Third annual Harlan County Drug Summit looks at ways to address addiction, with a focus on prevention
“We have a lot of resources around treatment, recovery housing, long-term recovery, programs for people who have been in addiction, but there just hasn’t been enough investment made in prevention,” said Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley.
Several students from Harlan County High School and Harlan High School who are in clubs sponsored by Operation UNITE, the regional anti-drug group, also took part in the summit, reports Wilcox.
“It’s really nice for everybody to know, especially in school, about how it can effect not only them, but the people around them,” said Harlan County High School student Morgan Blevins.
The keynote speaker at the drug summit was Julie Hofmans, who was also scheduled to talk to students at both schools the day after the summit. Her son died from a fentanyl overdose in 2020. The fentanyl was in a pill designed to mimic a prescription Xanax tablet, according to a 2022 story by Beth Warren of the Louisville Courier Journal.
The bad news, Ingram said in the release, is that “we’re going to lose six more Kentuckians today – preventable deaths.” Five of these deaths, he noted, will be due, at least in part, to fentanyl.
The release goes on to note that Ingram cited, as an example, the work of Operation UNITE over the past 20 years and the KY HELP Statewide Call Center, which is staffed by the organization.
“Every community needs to look at itself” to see if they have the resources they need, said Ingram. “We’re not going to get out of this easily. It is a long-haul fight.”
Mosley agreed, saying, “It requires all of us to do a little to make a huge impact.”
Turning to the adults in the room, the release notes that Vicini said it doesn’t matter your age or position, it’s about the passion you bring to the effort.
Vicini called on the group to recommit themselves to this prevention effort, saying, “We’re just scratching the surface.”