Drug strategies shift toward reducing harm
Capt. Murdock Woodard has come to realize he can’t stop drug use so he’s trying to focus on measures that could reduce potential harm, especially to innocent victims like children who may accidentally be exposed.
What the division commander with the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office suggests might shock some: that users with kids designate a safe space in their house for storing and using their “dope.”
“Then, no matter what happens, come hell or high water, (they don’t let their children come into) that bathroom or bedroom,” he said. “We might save one life, and if we save one that’s good.”
Across the Fredericksburg community, there’s a shift “toward increased acceptance to certain harm reduction interventions,” said Eleni McNeil, coordinator of substance abuse services with the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board, or RACSB.
People seem to accept strategies such as Narcan, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and drug testing strips which determine exactly what’s present in substances people buy off the street.
They’re not quite as willing to support needle exchanges, when people trade used syringes for sterile ones, or medication-assisted recovery. McNeil said there continues to be a stigma attached to prescribing suboxone or methadone to help those trying to beat their opioid addiction.
Studies have shown that patients on suboxone or methadone have higher rates of survival, tend to stay in treatment, decrease illicit drug use and criminal activity and are able to gain and keep jobs, according to a 2024 report from SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Local substance abuse counselors and therapists also work to educate people, especially those at risk of relapsing, on “safer ways to use,” McNeil said. They discuss the dangers of using alone because there won’t be anyone to call 911 if needed; not using needles due to the risk of disease or infection; and “going low, going slow” and using smaller doses in case the drug is laced with more lethal chemicals that can cause an overdose.
“We are never encouraging someone to use,” McNeil said. “We are having honest conversations about the risks and consequences of their use while recognizing they are still in a place where stopping may not be possible. Until they want to and are able to quit, our goal is survival, which means reducing their risk for death wherever we can.”
That includes reducing potential harm to others who may be around them. The Spotsylvania Department of Social Services recommends that parents or caretakers change clothes and shower after drug use, before interacting with their children, to make sure residual amounts don’t transfer from their clothes or hands to the kids.
Narcan in every home
If Amy Swift, director of Spotsylvania Social Services, could wave a wand, she’d make sure everyone carries Narcan. It’s a brand name of naloxone, a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose.
“I agree,” said Allison Balmes-John, population health coordinator with the Rappahannock Area Health District.
Narcan isn’t just for addicts, they said. The nasal spray can be used on children, even babies, if youngsters suddenly start breathing funny and an overdose is suspected.
Narcan won’t harm them if they aren’t overdosing from an opioid.
“But if they are, you have just bought critical time to get that baby to the emergency room and to reduce the amount of brain damage that could take place,” Swift said.
Lock up medicines
RACSB branches in Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford also have medication lockboxes that adults can use to keep prescription drugs, particularly painkillers, out of the wrong hands.
Even more commonplace medicines such as Tylenol or Benadryl can be dangerous if taken in excess.
“Lock anything up, even prescriptions, and make sure it’s an area where children don’t have access,” said Michael Muse, director of Stafford County Social Services.
Families are encouraged to clear their cabinets and get rid of unused or outdated medicine. RACSB offices also offer medication disposal kits, and every law enforcement agency in the Fredericksburg region has drop-off boxes for unwanted medicine.
RACSB partners with Lock & Talk, a Virginia initiative which focuses on suicide prevention by limiting access to guns and medicine. More information is available at lockandtalk.org.
Needed equipment
In late 2022, Stafford Social Services worked with a mother who did everything she could to keep prescription medications away from her teenage daughter who had strong suicidal tendencies. The lockboxes weren’t a deterrent so the department ended up getting a small safe for the parent.
Social Services also can provide other equipment to help parents keep their children safe, including cribs or bassinets. Unsafe sleep conditions, when the baby is brought to bed with parents or held on an adult’s chest in a recliner, can lead to dangerous results. If the parent falls asleep — or passes out in the case of substance abuse — and rolls over on the baby, the child is accidentally smothered to death.
Such fatalities are the leading cause of unnatural death to babies in Virginia. Officials stress that babies should be put on their backs, alone, in cribs or bassinets with no toys, blankets, pillows or other objects around them.
Parents, especially those using drugs, often are afraid to contact Social Services “because they don’t want us snatching up their kids,” Swift said. “That’s not our goal. Our goal is to keep them safe wherever that might be.”