In order for Newtown to respond and protect its residents from the growing threat posed by Connecticut's opioid epidemic, community leaders agree that issues related to abuse and addiction need to be brought out into the public, be acknowledged for the disease it is, and be destigmatized in order for users and their loved ones to get the education and support they need to overcome their challenges.

This was the consensus of a dozen community leaders who gathered on International Overdose Awareness Day, August 31, to share information and plan definitive action - most immediately, a community forum. That forum will be at 7 pm, October 5, at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street.

A panel of speakers will speak candidly about their experiences and provide attendees the opportunity to ask questions, as well as voice their thoughts and concerns.

During the preliminary planning meeting August 31, the group reviewed current local efforts and intentions and also heard from David Fiellin, MD, professor of medicine and public health at Yale University School of Medicine. He is among a select group of partners developing the Connecticut Opioid Response (CORE) Initiative.

Dr Fiellin related to the Newtown group how the CORE plan highlights evidence-based, high-impact efforts .

The state's Chief Medical Examiner, James Gill, MD, projected in a recent release that he expects to see at least 888 state residents lose their lives to drug overdoses by the end of 2016.

Dr Gill says the overdose death projection for the state in 2016 exceeds the 729 overdose deaths last year. The medical examiner says heroin and cocaine deaths also have increased, and many of them involved fentanyl.

The CORE report relates that in 2015, there were 697 opioid-involved fatalities across Connecticut, 639 of which occurred in Connecticut residents.

Newtown Planning Group

The Newtown planning meeting was organized by Newtown Prevention Council tri-chairs Donna Culbert, who is the regional health district director, Police Chief James Viadero, and Parks & Recreation Director Amy Mangold.

Along with Dr Fiellin, the trio welcomed high school PTA representative Maggie Conway, Newtown Parent Connection founder Dorrie Carolan, Corinne Ofgang and Jennifer Crane from the Newtown Center for Support and Wellness, Martha Shilstone, a high school substance abuse counselor and staffer at Newtown Youth & Family Services, Stephanie Cinque from the Resiliency Center of Newtown, Superintendent of Schools Joseph V Erardi, Jr, and First Selectman Pat Llodra.

During the conversation, Dr Fiellin related that he has been working on the growing problem of opioid addiction since 1998, and has seen how the issue has affected friends, neighbors, and classmates of his own five children.

"I try to have them look at all opioid drugs like heroin," he told the group.

While all of his patients are 18 or older, Dr Fiellin said most tell him that a lot of the behavior that led to their addictions started when they were younger.

"It went from casual use and experimenting, to using once or twice a week, to using daily, and then many graduated to heroin because of the expense of prescription opioid medications," he said.

According to Dr Fiellin, receiving support and intervention in environments where an individual's addiction is less stigmatized is one key to successfully addressing, and in many cases overcoming, their challenge. The other is to help patients and those across their support network to understand that their addictive behavior is a result of a medical condition, not the other way around.

Many More Suffering

Although he is immersed in the science of addiction, Dr Fiellin said he is increasingly overwhelmed by the toll opioids and related overdoses are taking on Connecticut communities and families.

"We're talking about an astronomical number of deaths," he said. "Every time I look at the victim's list, it's overwhelming. But we need to realize that for every overdose or death, there are ten or more others who are suffering."

As a point person on developing the CORE plan - which Governor Dannel Malloy charged Dr Fiellin and his team to draft in just 90 days - he said one of the top priorities is to "build a treatment initiative that is more responsive."

Dr Fiellin engaged the Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Department in a study that screens every incoming patient for opiates. One-third of the group found to be using received a treatment referral to act upon themselves; one-third was put on a waiting list for a treatment bed and provided support from a case manager who helps match them to an intervention program covered by insurance; and a third receive immediate treatment, and are offered a spot in a extended treatment facility within 72 hours.

The result was 70 percent of those in the latter group were successful in keeping clean after one month, versus 30 percent in the self-referred group.

Dr Fiellin also told the Newtown panel that programs should orient more toward those in the highest risk category - those who have already experienced a nonfatal overdose.

The upcoming forum is expected to include at least two recovering addicts, as well as representatives from law enforcement, emergency responders, and the law enforcement community.

"We need to normalize the stigma that is attached to addiction," Ms Culbert told The Newtown Bee. "This problem is about us, as well as towns and cities across the nation, but it is certainly about us. We need to own it, care about each other and take action."

A draft of the CORE plan has been released, and can be reviewed or downloaded here.

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