SUNBURY– More important words about trying to solve the opioid crisis…During a public forum Monday at the Degenstein Library in Sunbury, people involved first-hand in the epidemic talked about two factors that aren’t helping.
One issue is the amount of times people don’t report drug-related incidents, “Part of prevention is reporting it. And I’ll talk to people and they’ll go, ‘I’ve seen someone pass some drugs off.’ Did you call? ‘No.’ Why? ‘I don’t want to get involved.’ Ok. But then the next breath says, “Why aren’t you doing your job?”
That’s Officer Ray Siko, Chief of the Shamokin Police Department, who was part of the forum’s panel. Also part of the panel was Gaudenzia’s Matt Null.
He says trying to use the scare tactics on young people won’t work, “We might so in and show a scary movie, or pay $9,000 for an expensive basketball player to come in and tell their story, or use other scare tactics. Those adolescent brains turn off very quickly. They think they’re being manipulated. They think it’s not going to happen to them.”
Null says we have to design programs that are designed for an adolescent brain to coincide with its way of thinking.
Also on the panel where Dr. Perry Meadows, Geisinger Health Plan and Chair of the Northumberland County Opioid Coalition, as well as individuals recovering from drug addictions and their parents. The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way and Susquehanna Valley Progressives hosted the event.
