Gov. Ned Lamont took aim at the opioid epidemic Monday with a statewide campaign that gives people new tools to prevent and address opioid use disorder and restore hope that recovery is always within reach.
Live LOUD — or Live Life with Opioid Use Disorder — is a new website from the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, with information about Connecticut’s crisis, immediate resources, treatment options and family support. It went public Monday along with a new smartphone app from the Department of Public Health called NORA — or Naloxone + Overdose Resource App — that walks people through administering the life-saving, overdose-reversal drug.
The Live LOUD campaign will also use social media, radio, transit and billboard spots to offer support and education to those actively using heroin or misusing prescription opioids. Lamont said these new tools, and proposed laws aimed at tackling addiction, are the responsibility of the state.
“Let’s be blunt about this, Connecticut was ground zero of the opioid epidemic,” Lamont said, referring to Stamford-based Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma, now preparing for possible bankruptcy due to a flurry of litigation related to their role in the crisis. “A lot of this stuff was designed here in Connecticut, marketed here in Connecticut, and we’re gonna take the lead in making sure that people know they get a second chance.”
Joining Lamont to launch the campaign at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center was Sarah Howroyd, whose experience with addiction and recovery inspired the 37-year-old to co-found a drug prevention initiative, called HOPE, in her hometown of Manchester.
Howroyd was in her mid-20s when she was prescribed highly addictive opioids following a car accident; it was six years ago that she nearly died at Saint Francis Hospital.
“I had to walk through the depths of hell to get where I am today and the person I spent all of my 20s with died of an overdose just three years ago. He was an engineer with three degrees,” she said. “This disease does not discriminate against anyone. It can happen to anyone at any time.
“We’re all only one or two decisions away from this occurring.”
After she entered recovery with the help of therapy, medication-assisted treatment and support from her family and community, Howroyd decided to help advocate for addiction services and to spread the message that “recovery is very much possible.”
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz thanked Howroyd for sharing her story, and for her work on the state’s Alcohol and Drug Policy Council and Opioid Overdose Prevention Workgroup.
“It takes a lot of courage and strength to come forward,” Bysiewicz said. “Nobody should be afraid, no family should be embarrassed, no victim should be embarrassed. We want everybody to know about this important issue.”
Drug overdoses killed 1,130 people in Connecticut in 2018, up from 1,072 in 2017 and 971 in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Opioids are the main driver of these deaths, accounting for 93 percent of the state’s fatal overdoses, according to the state’s chief medical examiner, Dr. James Gill, who also releases annual figures on fatal overdoses.
The state has been working to fund access to naloxone and other addiction services, but the scourge of opioids still weighs heavily on Connecticut’s cities and towns.
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities on Monday shared numerous ways that local public safety and health personnel have increased services and costs to respond to drug-related needs in their communities.
The organization, which represents all 169 municipalities in the state, said it wants to see Connecticut designate a state ombudsman to coordinate these kind of efforts, and find funding to support prevention, education and recovery programs.
Bridgeport, for example, spent $500,000 this year responding to overdoses with its police, fire and health departments, according to the CCM.
New London has been spending more than $180,000 a year, and responding to about 100 overdoses annually.
In Naugatuck, use of naloxone and related costs have totaled more than $900,000 over the last five years, including $190,000 this year, CCM said.
Connecticut’s smaller towns have incurred costs, too.
Last week, Woodstock Academy held an “urgent conversation” on the epidemic, with more than 100 students saying they knew of someone who had overdosed.
In the last few years, Wilton has spent more than $6,000 and Ridgefield more than $7,000 on naloxone, training and community education, CCM found. Westbrook has spent nearly $10,000.
On March 21, the state announced it had won an additional $5.8 million federal grant to help alleviate the impacts of the epidemic across the state. In all, the government has awarded Connecticut $27.8 million to fight opioid addiction this year and next.
Dr. C. Steven Wolfe, chairman of the emergency department at Saint Francis Hospital, said the new campaign signals how far the state has come since fentanyl reared its head on the streets in 2012.
“We have been on the front lines of the battle of the opioid crisis now for quite a few years and watching thousands of people die from accidental overdoses, especially do to the synthetic and far more potent fentanyl,” Wolfe said.
In 2017, he added, drug overdoses killed more than 70,000 people in the U.S., a deadlier toll for Americans than the whole of the Vietnam War.
But, Wolfe said, “I do believe the tide is beginning to turn to some degree. … More are willing to deal with the issue rather than ignore or deny it exists in their communities or schools.”
Recent changes in public perception, medical practices and laws reflect the growing awareness that addiction is an illness, not a character flaw, a choice or a crime, he said.
For example, Saint Francis Hospital has begun stocking its emergency department with harm reduction kits, with sterile needles, syringes and other supplies, for overdose patients who aren’t ready to stop using.
And the state has placed recovery coaches in emergency departments across the state, to work directly with those who are ready to accept help.
Live LOUD takes those kinds of efforts to the next level, said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
“Every life is precious,” she said. “And we’ll continue to fight for those who are struggling with this disease and their loved ones by providing support, resources, treatment options and making sure they’re aware there is a caring state behind them.”
Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@courant.com.
