Speakers share stories of woe and also success during Overdose Awareness Day
Donna Connell lost her son. Jim Jackson lost a brother and cousin. Twice, Mark Kinzly nearly lost his own life.
The three were among the speakers who related devastating and intensely personal stories about drug abuse during Williamson County’s inaugural Overdose Awareness Day program last weekend at Prete Plaza in Round Rock.
The road back from substance abuse can be hard, they said. But the alternative is no road at all, except one leading to prison or the grave.
“On Jan 5, 2014, I got the call that everyone who lives with a substance abuse disorder lives in fear of receiving,” said Donna Connell, who lost her son, Jordan, to an accidental heroin overdose.
Today, Connell — retired from county government — works for the Life Steps Council on Alcohol and Drugs, which sponsored the Aug. 20 event.
Jim Jackson, a member of the Life Steps board of directors, also found his way to Life Steps through personal experiences — his own and those of close family members. He also serves as a counselor at Phoenix House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in Austin.
“I turned 65 this month, and if I hadn’t stopped drinking I’d be dead,” Jackson said.
Jackson recalled his late cousin, who because of back problems became addicted to painkillers. His story was reminiscent of the Irish proverb: “First the man takes the drink. Then the drink takes the man.” Jackson’s cousin took the painkillers, but the painkillers eventually took his life.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the use and abuse of opioids — in particular, powerful prescription painkillers — has reached all-time highs in the country.
Synthetic opioids are chemically created. Heroin is considered a semi-synthetic opioid, because it comes from naturally grown poppies.
“Synthetic opioids are coming into this country like we’ve never seen before,” said Mark Kinzly, co-founder of the Texas Overdose Naloxone Initiative.
He said 70 percent of all drug overdoses in Texas can be traced to prescription drugs, compared to 30 percent coming from street drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, agreed the problem is severe.
“The magnitude of the problem we are here to discuss today is enormous,” said Carter, who before being elected to Congress in 2002 served 20 years as a district court judge.
“We watched all kinds of drug issues pass through the courts,” Carter said, noting that prescription drug abuse has increased — matching and even surpassing street drugs as a major problem — since his time on the bench.
“It’s not the sleazy guy in the back alley selling drugs to the kids,” he said. “It’s the kids that got it out of mom and dad’s medicine cabinet — or a kid at school who got it from mom and dad’s medicine cabinet.”
Carter said the federal government has appropriated money through the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. Both the House and Senate approved the bipartisan bill, which President Barack Obama signed into law in July.
“Heroin overdoses have tripled in the last five years,” Carter said. “That’s the reason this act got the attention it deserves.”
Kinzly said he is a testament to how lives can be turned around — but treatment is key.
According to a 2011 New York Times story, Kinzly is a recovering heroin addict who was off drugs 11 years before relapsing in 2004. Kinzly said that when he used and abused drugs, he suffered two overdoses that nearly killed him.
“Dead people don’t walk into 12-step fellowships,” he said. “Dead people don’t get to raise families. Dead people don’t get to walk their daughter down the aisle, like I did three weeks ago.”
Connell said she hoped to see change in how people view drug addiction, and “that our elected officials and community will embrace more opportunities to make treatment available.”