Addiction
A deeper look at the roots of the opioid crisis needed
Note: This article, written by Michele Farry, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on May 21, 2018. Back in early April Hampshire County was feeling a cold lingering spring. In Atlanta, Georgia, however, it was heating up at The National RX Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit and Hampshire HOPE was well represented. First convened […]
Continue ReadingThe opioid crisis: The times they are a changing
Note: This article, written by Cherry Sullivan, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on September 29, 2017. After graduate school in the early 1980s, I was hired as clinical coordinator of an outpatient methadone and counseling program at Cambridge Hospital, affiliated with Harvard University. Frankly I was shocked to be offered the job. My […]
Continue ReadingCandlelight vigil planned for International Overdose Awareness Day
Note: This article, written by Liz Whynott, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on August 21, 2017. After urging by U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts and others on the front lines of the opioid epidemic, President Donald Trump has declared the crisis a national public health emergency. With reports that 91 people die per day from […]
Continue ReadingThe opioid crisis: Addressing trauma, showing compassion, seeking prevention
Note: This article, written by Cherry Sullivan, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on July 17, 2017. For the past year, the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s health page has given Hampshire HOPE this monthly forum to talk to readers directly about the toll the opioid epidemic is taking on Hampshire County communities and the intense […]
Continue ReadingThe Opioid Crisis: The faith community responds
Note: This article, written by Susan Grant Rosen, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on June 26, 2017. In progressive faith communities we often hear the term, “the Beloved Community.” The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used it to signify a way of life that arises when enough people live together in an inclusive […]
Continue ReadingLife-threatening test: Belchertown woman faces hard truths about her son’s drug addiction
Note: This article, written by Laurie Loisel, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on May 22, 2017. Jill Panto knows Narcan. She’s been trained in how to administer it. She has organized Narcan trainings for her community in Belchertown. By now, she could probably teach people herself how to use the life-saving opiate overdose […]
Continue ReadingRecovery support as essential as treatment in the opioid crisis
Note: This article, written by Lynn Ferro, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on April 24, 2017. There are more than 25 million people in recovery from substance use disorders in this country, according to some estimates, and if you extrapolate from that figure to the local level, that means about 10,000 are in Hampshire County. […]
Continue ReadingOpioids Crisis: Despite controversy, medication-assisted treatment is one path to recovery
Note: This article, written by Lynn Macdonald, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on March 27, 2017. If medical providers use medicine to treat and manage chronic conditions such as heart disease, asthma and diabetes, why is it difficult to understand that medication can effectively treat opiate addiction, also a disease — and for […]
Continue ReadingThe opioid epidemic has made jail the treatment of last resort
Note: This article, written by Melinda Cady, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on February 27, 2017. The opioid problem is not new to those of us who work in the Hampshire Sheriff’s office. However, as with other sectors in our state and nation in recent years, we, too, are experiencing it as an […]
Continue ReadingThe Opioid Crisis: A firsthand look at heroin’s destruction
Note: This article, written by Laurie Loisel, originally appeared in a Hampshire Gazette column on January 23, 2017. Nicole Chapin and Sarah McLaughlin have a lot in common. Both are 35, grew up in western Massachusetts and attended public schools here. Both are mothers. They love their children. They have family members who love them […]
Continue Reading