Opioid Ripples

Opioid Ripples: Part 4

November 12, 2019 By Dee Leave a Comment

Stigma still stymies some efforts
in opioid battle

Not even death ends the ripple effects of stigma,
In some ways – it’s even intensified.

The last installation in this 4 part series focuses on stigma and how it affects those in recovery and their families.
I was thankful to be a part of it, and help spread awareness that this stigma still continues for family members even after an overdose death has occurred.

Read the article at Fauquier Now or read PDFs of the entire series from the
Piedmont Journalism Foundation

Opioid Ripples: Part 3

October 9, 2019 By Dee Leave a Comment

Tactics evolve in battle against opioid abuse

Read more of journalist Randy Rieland’s research into the local response and how it is helping break the cycle . . .

Law enforcement agencies in the region are taking on a larger role in teaching their communities about a crisis that few saw coming, and with a focus more nuanced than it would have been 10 years ago.

“We try to teach it’s a brain chemistry issue,” Fauquier sheriff’s Capt. Ray Acors said. “It’s not that someone’s a bad person. Their bad behavior comes out of their addiction. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde drug.”

Chief Chris Jenkins of Culpeper thinks addiction prevention doesn’t get the attention it merits. He has both professional and deeply personal reasons for feeling that way. Five years ago, his 26-year-old son, Jordan, who had become addicted to prescription medications, committed suicide. “I actually think prevention is as important as law enforcement now,” he said. “And it’s the part people kinda forget about.”

Mr. Jenkins said a complicating factor is that it’s usually up to local communities to develop their own prevention programs.

“Look, we already have our hands full for the next 10 to 15 years dealing with what’s happened. If we don’t focus on addiction prevention now, we’re going to get another whole segment of our community dealing with it.”
Read the FULL ARTICLE at FAUQUIER NOW or download a PDF at the Piedmont Journalism Foundation

Opioid Ripples: Part 2

October 2, 2019 By Dee Leave a Comment

Opioid addiction recovery a slow and painful journey

Journalist Randy Rieland highlights just how challenging overcoming an addiction can be.

Caroline Folker with her beautiful daughter Katherine

Brian and Caroline Folker had always thought Fauquier County was a safe place to raise their two daughters. After much research, they had picked it as the place to live after his transfer from London to a job in Vienna.

But, it seemed like unnecessary cruelty to have Kathrine die not long after a stint in an addiction recovery center, after being buoyed by so much relief and hope. Through their terrible ordeal, the couple learned one of the awful realities of addiction. Most addicts relapse. Multiple times. Even after they receive treatment.

Kathrine had been in the Edgehill Recovery Retreat in Winchester for only two weeks when she left. She told her parents she was afraid she would lose her job if she stayed any longer. She also told them she would be fine.

“It turned out to be a perfect storm,” Ms. Folker said. “My anxiety-ridden, naïve, follower of a daughter, very easily influenced and living in a time and place when this epidemic hit. She might as well have had a bull’s-eye on her back.”

Read the FULL ARTICLE at FAUQUIER NOW or download a PDF at the Piedmont Journalism Foundation

Opioid Ripples: Part 1

August 28, 2019 By Dee Leave a Comment

Piedmont’s opioid crisis ‘has touched everyone’

This is the first of a four part series by Journalist Randy Rieland, produced jointly by two independent, nonprofit civic news organizations, the Piedmont Journalism Foundation and Foothills Forum.

The opioid crisis has not just claimed more than 700 lives in Virginia’s Piedmont region during the past decade, but has also shattered families, taxed law enforcement and social services, stressed first responders and health care professionals and shredded the fabric of communities that never saw it coming.

And, for the generation of children being born to addicts, or into families with opioid abuse, some true ramifications may not be known for years.