The task force shared their final recommendations regarding the opioid epidemic at the meeting.
Adam Lovejoy said he had multiple chances to hit “rock bottom” when it came to his drug addiction. It could’ve come when he was shot in 2005. It could’ve come after a three-year prison stint. It could’ve come after he fell off a roof. But he said he hit rock bottom while watching multiple friends die from addiction over the past few years.
“I was almost a valedictorian at Riverside, then I found drugs and my whole life changed… I found a way to cope,” said Lovejoy, a 37-year-old Milwaukee citizen.
However, Lovejoy has been clean for nearly seven months now and is currently back in college. “I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I had run out of options and I was done spinning my wheels,” he said.
Lovejoy said one of the biggest positive impacts in his battle with addiction was finding transitional living to get him off of friend’s couches and back into a healthy lifestyle. Lovejoy called Impact 2-1-1 a few months ago and was able to get into a shared housing facility with a community that has helped him get back on his feet.
“If I wake up in a poor mood, somebody notices, and we’re able to talk about it,” he said. “You aren't going to get that in a regular apartment complex, you aren't even going to know your neighbors there.”
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Adam Lovejoy shared his story of addiction during the Milwaukee City-County Heroin, Opioid, Cocaine Task Force meeting Friday.
Lovejoy advocated for more transitional living options in front of the Milwaukee City-County Heroin, Opioid, Cocaine Task Force Friday, where the task force presented its final recommendations regarding the opioid epidemic across the community. The task force was created in 2017 by the Common Council to tackle the issue.
Over the past five years drug overdoses have killed 1,700 individuals in Milwaukee County. In 2017, nearly 400 people across the county died from opioid-related deaths. That number is almost five times as high as opioid-related overdoses the previous year.
Members of the task force were tasked with getting a handle on this issue. They include city, county and state leaders. Although they have not met since April, the task force helped conduct multiple community listening sessions over the past few months in order to measure public opinion and decide next steps. Their final recommendations included 14 different items, ranging from education and networking to support and research. Of great importance to the task force was partnering with community groups and members. Greater access to housing support was also among its final recommendations.
Location of EMS responses for suspected opioid-related overdoses, 2017 (COPE).
“It’s not just us,” said Alderman Michael Murphy who chairs the task force. “We hope to use the power this group has created… and continue to expand those programs that are working.”
Other recommendations include the development of aftercare relapse prevention programs, overdose education for middle and high school students, expanding the availability of rapid testing kits that could save lives and recommending that “all local governmental direct service staff should be trained and recognize and respond to an overdose with Naloxone.” Naloxone is a medication that is designed to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose. There was also a recommendation made that included amending prison time for treatment for individuals who are in prison for substance misuse.
Members of the task force said they will be working with the community to put its recommendations in place. As for Lovejoy, he looks forward to getting his degree and earning a certificate to be a peer mentor for those with similar addiction problems as his. He is thankful for the transitional living facility—the result of a public-private partnership that has been helping him for months.
“I’m a valuable member of society now. I just needed that five months of help,” he said.
You can read the whole report of the task force here.
