Community intervention on drugs
The opioid and heroin epidemic ravaging Manatee County — Florida’s epicenter of drug abuse with more overdose deaths per capita than anywhere else — touches the entire community, not just the addicts, dealers and their families. We cannot arrest our way out of this nightmare. Beyond crime and punishment, circumstances call for efforts aimed at prevention, education and treatment.
The Bradenton Herald and State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota will hold a Community Conversation on March 1 to discuss those efforts. Our guests will be Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, who has promised a sweeping legislative package to combat the crisis; Dr. Jessica Spencer, a Florida-certified prevention and addictions professional; and John Bowman, founder and CEO of Sure Med Compliance, created to help end the drug overdose epidemic.
SCF President Carol Probstfeld and Herald Editorial Page Editor Chris Wille will moderate the 90-minute discussion, which will begin at 6 p.m.
Boyd hit the bull’s-eye in describing the situation at the recent Pancakes & Politics Legislative Session Preview sponsored by the Manatee Chamber of Commerce: “We’ve got to have education. We’ve got to just have a variety of things and our communities have to be engaged because at the end of the day, it really does affect all of us. It’s not just a law enforcement problem. It’s not just a medical care problem. It’s a community problem.”
His current bill — HB 477 Controlled Substances — primarily outlines the penalties for the possession and sale of dozens and dozens of drugs through 152 pages, adds certain synthetic opioid substitute compounds to the Schedule I list of controlled substances and creates offenses of trafficking in fentanyl and synthetic drugs. Distributors of any product containing heroin or fentanyl that results in death will face manslaughter charges.
The Manatee County School District began improving drug education some six years ago and continues to bolster prevention programs even without more state funding. The state foolishly eliminated a drug education program in 2009, leaving districts with almost no federal funding for drug prevention programs. In effect, the state abandoned districts and students and put the burden on local leaders. But the heavy focus on high-stakes testing has forced teachers to stick to academics, leaving little if any time for prevention programs.
Florida requires students get some drug education as part of the state-required HOPE class. Health Opportunities through Physical Education classes combine physical and health education. But HOPE lacks a strong focus on drug abuse prevention.
A 2016 federal law makes substance abuse prevention education mandatory. The Every Student Succeeds Act provides funds for evidence-based prevention in schools, requiring local educational agencies to spend a minimum of 20 percent of student support and academic enrichment grant funding for drug and violence prevention.
Early education is essential to diverting youngsters away from peer pressure, neighborhood dealers, experimental use and other factors. Parents can play a pivotal role by being a strong role model and teaching life skills such as self-esteem, positive behavior, anger management, assertiveness, emotional intelligence and other skills. Schools have tried to fill the void brought on when traditional family structures and healthy relationships have broken down.
These are just some of the challenges to reversing the community’s drug abuse crisis. We invite the public to not only attend our Community Conversation, but to send us your questions and concerns about the drug epidemic ahead of the forum. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions during the forum. Please email those questions in advance to cwille@bradenton.com or send regular mail to Editorial Page Editor Chris Wille, 1111 Third Ave. W., Bradenton 34205. And please include your name.
Manatee Educational Television will tape the event for multiple broadcasts and post the video on METV’s YouTube channel.
The forum will be held at the Howard Studio Theater, Building 11, Room 163 on SCF’s Bradenton campus, next to the Neel Performing Arts Center. Please join us for a lively discussion.
This story was originally published February 18, 2017 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Community intervention on drugs."