Last Updated on May 13, 2016 by Morris Green

According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Google, nearly 10 million people call North Carolina home. It’s an impressive population when you consider that our state is 53,819 square miles. Our bigger cities have more than 6,000 residents. Charlotte has a population of over 775,000, and Concord is home to almost 82,000. Our local community is sizeable!

At the end of 2013, a report was released by Trust for America’s Health that ranked North Carolina as having the 30^th highest drug overdose mortality rate in the United States. According to the findings:

• Approximately 11.4 per 100,000 people in NC suffer drug overdose fatalities.
• Drug overdose in NC has doubled since 1999 when the rate was 4.6 per 100,000.
• NC received 8 out of 10 possible indicators of promising strategies to curb prescription drug abuse.

Fast forward to today, the year 2016, and we find ourselves facing an addiction epidemic in North Carolina. As recently as January 12, 2016, North Carolina Health News reported that more than 70 Americans die from overdoses every day, and the numbers keep climbing.

Resistance To and Fear of Addiction Treatment

How is an epidemic contained and remedied? By treatment. But resistance to and fear of addiction treatment are two major issues facing not just our local community, but the state of North Carolina as a whole.

Resistance To Treatment – It often stems from a deep seeded stigma. Some addicts know they have a problem but are too afraid to get help. Addiction is not always a standalone issue. It shares space with mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Society as a whole harbors a negative opinion of drug users and people with mental illnesses. The average, non-addicted person who sufferers from depression or anxiety finds it difficult to seek help due to ideas and attitudes like:

• It’s all in your head.
• Get over it; that’s life.
• Suck it up buttercup; you should be able to handle this.

Couple these ideas and attitudes with the burden of a drug addiction, and the resistance to treatment explodes as a byproduct. It rapidly cascades into a sometimes paralyzing fear.

Fear Of Treatment – Public resistance to the acceptance and correct view of addiction causes roadblocks for people who need qualified help. The public stigma attached to addiction, which is a mental illness in its own right, often paralyzes addicts. Drenched with fear, these people fall into more destructive habits that frequently lead to overdose.

The most recent research into addiction is revealing yet another obstacle for addicts: Attaining successful recovery services. Ten years ago, the only option for drug abusers and addicts was counseling. While it was somewhat successful, a great number of attendees fell victim to relapse. Their fall quickly began to fuel the stigma that addicts will never change. The result, hundreds of people died as victims of drug overdose, a cause of death seen in over 28,000 people in 2014—more than car crashes, homicides, or suicides.

Today, doctors and brain researchers agree that medications used in coordination with therapy are giving addicts the edge they need to overcome their illness. In fact, for the first time ever, addiction is being seen as a disease. And there is no denying that we are in the midst of an addiction epidemic, particularly when it comes to Charlotte youth and heroin.

How NC Combats Drug Addiction

The report ran by Trust for America’s Health stated that North Carolina showed “eight out of 10 possible indicators of promising strategies to help curb prescription drug abuse,” but our strides to contain and treat the addiction epidemic focus on far more than just prescription drugs. Illegal drugs and alcohol are also major concerns. In 2012, 50,000 North Carolinians checked into rehab for addiction help specific to alcohol, marijuana, opiates, crack/cocaine, and heroin.

The good news is that NC is by no means backing away from addressing this prevalent issue. Our state has one of the highest educational program standards for substance abuse and addiction. Education and treatment programs and substance abuse service providers are driven by specially licensed substance abuse counselors and are overseen by the NC Substance Abuse Professional Practice Board. Of what benefit are these?

• Educational Programs: Drug Education School , ADETS, and Prime For Life are court required educational programs that work to change opinions and influence behavior. They increase substance awareness and educate participants while giving them a chance to expunge substance related misdemeanors from their records.
• Treatment Programs: Gone are the day of 10-step miracle programs. Today, substance abuse and addiction are seen for the diseases that they are. Treatment programs managed by state certified professionals who uphold ethics of practice focus on the physical and emotional symptoms of addiction. Counseling sessions are often used in combination with medically overseen prescriptions that have been attributed with lowering the risk of fatal overdose. Research is proving that addicts who stay in recovery and avoid relapse for at least one year are twice as likely with properly regulated medications.
• Substance Abuse Counselors: These professionals are on the front lines of the addiction epidemic. Their specialization is beyond invaluable. They make a huge impact as agents of change, proposers of goals and objectives, self-discovery catalysts, professionally trained and experienced counselors, and lifelong supports—five major types of assistance addicts need to enter, remain in, and emerge from recovery successfully.

From 1999 to 2014, the number of prescription overdose deaths in North Carolina increased by more than 330 percent. Over the past five years, the amount of North Carolinians seeking drug or alcohol abuse help has grown by 170 percent. Addiction is an undeniable epidemic in our state. Recognition of this problem has been the first step toward curbing it.

With programs and professionals now in place to educate and treat those suffering with addiction in our local communities, we are in an advantageous position to make a positive impact on lessening this epidemic. We know so much more about addiction today in comparison to ten—even five—years ago. As physical medicine keeps pace with psychological practice, we are confident in seeing a turning point in the war on substance abuse and addiction.