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Did You Know?

HOW DID THIS OPIOID PROBLEM GET TO MY COMMUNITY?

  • Opioids, particularly diverted prescription drugs, often enter the community through the family medicine cabinet, theft and robbery of local pharmacies, and through fraudulent prescriptions.

  • Heroin, fentanyl, and counterfeit prescriptions drugs are also sold by drug trafficking organizations and street gangs already operating in a community.

  • Additionally, many opioids can be purchased via the Internet; social media sites such as Facebook, Google, and Craigslist, among others; as well as a myriad of sites on the Dark Web. They are then shipped discreetly via commercial parcel delivery carriers such as the U.S. Post Office, FedEx, DHL, or UPS.

 

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO CURB THIS EPIDEMIC?

  • The government at all levels—career public servants, law enforcement, and public health officials—have partnered with educators, treatment professionals, and non-profit organizations, to bring awareness and develop strategies and solutions for your community.

  • Strategies include targeted and proactive drug law enforcement activity to dismantle the trafficking organizations; prevention programs and drug awareness and education campaigns; and intervention and treatment options that address the short and long-term health of addicts and recovering addicts.

  • Countless local, tribal, and regional efforts, tailored to the specific needs of a community, are underway and supported by national and international efforts which focus on various parts of this problem.

 

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

  • Have a meaningful conversation with your family. Reject the notion that “it can’t happen to you or your family.” Talk aloud about the threat opioid abuse brings to your family. Commit to asking the tough questions.

  • Invest in your family and community’s future. Many intensely affected regions routinely host public forums, town halls, prevention activities at schools, community vigils, walks, and fun runs. Get involved and participate.

  • Speak up. Contact law enforcement when you suspect drug-related activity in your neighborhood. Successful policing relies on a whole-community approach to identify and bring drug trafficking organizations to justice.

  • Keep any prescription drugs in your house secure and locked away, out of reach of others.

  • Take advantage of national or local take back days sponsored by law enforcement or your local pharmacy to discard any unneeded drugs.

  • Visit Prevent Overdose RI at  www.preventoverdoseri.org/ for addiction information and treatment resources in Rhode Island

  • Obtain nasal naloxone and fentanyl test strips by contacting Anchor Recovery at https://anchorrecovery.providencecenter.org/narcan

  • Schedule a U.S. Attorney's Office opiopid education, intervention, and prevention presentaion by contacing David.Neill@usdoj.gov 

Updated May 7, 2021