SPECTRUM: Youth Have To Withstand Difficult Times

“Fentanyl is killing us!” This straightforward statement was made by Dr. Jay Butler, Chief Medical Officer, State of Alaska, at the last Mat-Su Opioid Task Force meeting. There were a total of 99 overdoses due to opioids this past year. And, a third were due to Fentanyl. But, two years ago, there was only one confirmed fentanyl death. Fentanyl is 100 times more powerful than morphine and many times that of heroin.

Drug dealers will include fentanyl with heroin to improve potency but, their measuring equipment usually is not fine-tuned. That can lead to an overloaded final product and unpredictable consequences of overdosing. When injecting heroin that is laced with fentanyl, you are injecting a loaded gun! It is truly Russian Roulette.

Unfortunately, Alaska is following a national trend lead by New England. New Hampshire has already matched half of their total opioid overdoses compared to last year, in just the first three months of this year. And 70% of those overdoses were due to fentanyl.

We have to ensure that those numbers do not become a reality in Alaska. I, personally. believe that prevention is imperative to change the equation and to save lives. In short, we have to stop making addicts. We have to move ‘upstream’ to provide our youth with the most current and accurate information regarding how powerful and addictive opioids are, and let them know how real is the potential of it being laced with fentanyl.

We already know our youth are using opioids that are not prescribed specifically to them. And, 90% of all new heroin users started with these opioid pain pills. They were able to get those pain pills from friends, family and grandparents. In addition, a small percent are already using heroin.

Yet, wading upstream with prevention is not going to be enough. If we want to make a real difference, we are going to have to get into the deep water with them and provide life preservers. This means we are going to have to address a very personal, and intimate issue: trauma. And besides addressing trauma head on, (trauma informed) we have to provide youth support for safer and healthier lives.

If a youth has experienced trauma, they need to know, ‘they are not alone and they did not cause it!’ Those concepts can break the bondage of shame and guilt. Trauma is the number one reason for substance abuse and it starts with self-medicating the pain. That pain maybe physical, emotional, sexual abuse and even neglect. Some youth have had to grow up alone, because their primary care givers were ( emotionally) absent. Unresolved trauma can cause anxiety, feelings of worthlessness, poor decision-making and depression.

Youth need to know they can learn and use new life skills to make better, healthier choices. I cannot tell you the number of times I have encountered youth, besides self-medicating, they have also become cutters. I can not imagine the excruciating emotional pain they must feel that results in self harm.

We, as community members, might not agree on many different political issues, but, we can all agree, we want our youth to be resilient. We want them to be able to have all the tools at hand to become productive and successful adults. They are our future.

I want to thank all the community members that are involved with youth, from coaches, youth leaders, pastors, teachers, counselors, nurses and most importantly, parents that are providing a safe, nurturing home. Parents are their children’s first teachers and provide the launching pad for their children to become the people we hope and pray they aspire to be.

The Mat-Su Opioid Task Force has identified prevention as one of our top 5 priorities. Please consider joining the good fight for our children, community and State. We meet the first Tuesday of each month (4/3, 5/1, 6/5…) 4-6pm at Wasilla High School in the Theater. All are welcome. If you have any questions, please call MyHouse at 373-HELP. ( 4357)

# ChildrenAreFirst

Michael Carson, V.P. & Recovery Specialist @ MyHouse and Chair of Mat-Su Opioid Task Force