LOST BUT LOVED

ABOUT THE PROJECT
Every Sunday since mid-May, The Citizens’ Voice has profiled one of our neighbors lost to the region’s opioid epidemic, charting month by month the 151 overdose deaths that broke records in Luzerne County in 2017.
We’ve talked to parents who lost their sons and daughters, grieving spouses, traumatized children and siblings who watched their brothers and sisters slide into addiction and then slip away. These were not easy stories to tell, report or read and week after week another came, relentlessly.
Imagine that instead of one tragic story per week, there were three. That’s the rate of overdose deaths in this county — three per week.
Our goals in pursuing this project were to help relieve some of the stigma associated with death by overdose and to identify and address the issues arising from those deaths.
Other than telling the stories of lives cut short, stories that have often been neglected in coverage of this epidemic, what has been achieved? What have we learned?
In the past 11 weeks, we’ve learned that prescription pain killers continue to be a gateway toward addiction to heroin and even deadlier fentanyl and that some doctors’ prescription practices — overprescribing initially and abruptly cutting off prescriptions – often lead to deadlier street drug addictions.
We’ve learned that addiction in many cases is tied to other psychological issues and that our region lacks a robust mental health network for dealing with those issues, despite efforts by the local healthcare community to address the gap.
We’ve learned that involuntary commitment and treatment remain controversial topics, with some arguing it is the only way to reach some users while others question the legality and effectiveness of forced rehabilitation.
We’ve learned some members of our community remain resistant to having treatment centers or sober houses in their neighborhoods, despite evidence of widespread abuse across all geographic, racial and economic lines. The problem is everywhere. Efforts to deal with it should be everywhere too.
We’ve learned there are hundreds of professionals, volunteers, survivors and people in recovery working tirelessly in clinics, support groups and other settings to address these issues. They deserve our thanks and support.
Finally we would like to extend our thanks to the families who chose to share their grief, memories and love for those they have lost. We can only hope we have done their stories justice.