FAN BOSS JOINS JAMES FOR ADDRESS
Rep commends Davis for drug-treatment efforts, touts Road to Recovery Act
State Rep. John James brought Linda Davis of Families Against Narcotics to the State of the Union address by President Biden on Thursday night to bring attention to her work and to his Road to Recovery bill.
Davis, executive director of FAN, was slated to sit in the gallery in the U.S. Capitol and James, who is in his first term, said he would be somewhere on the main floor during the speech.
James commended Davis Thursday afternoon from Washington, D.C. for her yearslong work as a founder and now director of the Clinton Township-based organization that has grown significantly in Michigan and beyond since it was formed in 2007 in Fraser.
“Linda is a leader in our state and our county and increasingly is becoming a leader in the country on the opioid epidemic,” James said.
Davis said she is honored to attend and praised James for his support of FAN.
“He has been a big supporter of FAN even before he got elected,” she said. “I know he has a big heart for this kind of work.”
James and Davis, a former judge at 41B District Court and one-time assistant Macomb County prosecutor, agreed funding such as that provided in the Road to Recovery
must attempt to treat people “from the found up, not the top down.”
“We need to meet people where they are at,” Davis said.
They noted 100,000 people per year, or 300 people day, die from a drug overdose, most of them from opioids. James, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, noted that 4,500 U.S. soldiers were killed during the years of that war.
The Road to Recovery Act provides essential funding, support, and treatment “at the lowest levels, to local organizations, to address the needs as they see fit,” James said.
It reauthorizes Section 7152 of the SUPPORT Act, which provides critical resources for national helpline for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-daya-year treatment referral and information service for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. The RTR bill was included in the Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act, which assists communities fighting substance use and abuse.
“It’s a big step but a first step to allow the federal government to partner with local community organizations,” he said.
Davis said many drug treatment programs have tepid results because they only address addicts’ issues in the short-term such as a 30-day stay in a rehabilitation facility whereas grassroots efforts such as those found in FAN provide long-term help, two years.
“You just can’t throw money at the problem,” she said.
FAN attempts to reach homeless people “living on the streets” who aren’t likely to seek treatment and offer them long-term help.
“We’re getting treatment to people who have lost hope,” she said.
“There’s a hopelessness crisis in this country,” James added.
She said there is still a stigma around addiction that hinders treatment.
“We don’t treat it as a medical problem, we treat it as a moral failing,” she said. “We up barriers and judge about people even in treatment.
Davis is encouraged by the fact the number of fatal overdoses in Macomb County have not been rising in recent years.
“They’ve stabilized,” she said.