Drugs Discovered Worried Home Turmoil Puzzled? What to do? Get Educated, Actions taken
Welcome to Resources.
There are numerous resources parents should investigate in deciding how to help their children battle opioid addiction. In this section I have listed some of the ones that I found most valuable. It is very unlikely that addicted loved ones will investigate such resources on their own. Parents can provide invaluable assistance in identifying those resource options that can best be utilized by their children.
I hope these resources will help parents obtain some valuable knowledge regarding information about which most people are unaware. Those who wish to obtain additional information beyond what is listed here and who wish to read about my son's battle with addiction should consider obtaining my book by the same title Parents for Opioid-Free Children. I wrote my book over a five-year period. I hope to soon finish the editing process and make it available. In the course of trying to help my son overcome addiction, I became determined to help educate parents like myself who were new to understanding opioid addiction and unsure of where to even start.
To preview and read some summary excerpts, click on the Learning Center tab. I plan on posting my table of contents in the future.
->Video Library of PFOFC 10 Steps to immediately take.
1. Drug Testing and Physician Assessment - Step 1
2. (Videos Steps 2-10 in production)
3. Understanding the Opioid Epidemic (PBS video)
4. Good Samaritan Act in Florida (PSA by www.drugfreemanatee.org)
This act protects people who call in overdoses. Many states have similar laws.
Involuntary Residential Admission
If an addicted loved one refuses to go into detox followed by residential rehabilitation, the law in some states, like my state of Florida, provides a provision that forces an involuntary admission for a specified time frame. Although a voluntary admission is much preferred, a doctor and a judge can admit the person meeting certain conditions. In Florida it is called the Marchman Act.
I used this provision with my son three times. This strategy can sometimes be utilized and setup in advance if you conduct an intervention. Sometimes an interventionist can be used to obtain a voluntary admission. Here is a company that conducts interventions in Florida. The website also discusses the specifics of the Marchman Act. They have a helpline: (561) 203-4106. A very good overview of interventions defined and process can be found here.
In states that have laws similar to Florida’s Marchman Act, involuntary admission to treatment requires a doctor’s evaluation and a judge’s order. (Such state laws will go by different names.) On one occasion I had to call the police to bring my son, Robby, to a doctor for such an evaluation. Unfortunately, in that particular instance, because the doctor was young and inexperienced, was ignorant of the Marchman Act, and was indecisive, the police could not overrule the doctor, so it never got to the judge. As a result, our attempt at involuntary treatment for Robby failed. The other two times the Marchman Act was used were successful.
Phone numbers:
Obtaining a therapist: How to find a therapist
National helpline: 800-662-4357 (help)
Suboxone™ helpline: 877-782-6966 (877-SUBOXONE)
To locate a physician prescriber of Suboxone: Suboxone information or 1-866-973-4373
Websites:
National Institute on Drug Abuse: www.drugabuse.gov
Advocates for Opioid Recovery: This great website concisely summarizes addiction and evidence-based treatment. The founders include Patrick Kennedy, Newt Gingrich, and Van Jones.They have made appearances around the country and on television shows directing attention to the opioid national crisis. The website discusses opioid addiction, treatment, and facts. This is an excellent website with an easy-to-follow overview, an important one to check out. https://www.opioidrecovery.org/
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): https://www.samhsa.gov
(SAMHSA) Treatments: https://www.samhsa.gov/treatment/substance-use-disorders
Emergency Naloxone Medication treatment informational video:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/151191919?api=1&player_id=151191919 Source: © 2017 ADAPT Pharma, Inc. https://www.narcan.com . This site identifies how to obtain Naloxone (Narcan) by zipcode and has detailed information.
NAR-Anon:
This group
supports parents and friends impacted by someone with a substance-use disorder involving prescription or illicit drugs. Locate a meeting near you. https://www.nar-anon.org/find-a-meeting When I attended these meetings, other parents shared their experiences and what helped them. The mutually affirming support was nice but in order to get your life back, they indicated a sort of tough love approach, since they indicated you are powerless to change them. Although this approach may relieve you of feelings of guilt or responsibility and constant stress, my opinion was my son's risk level would have increased due to a his perception of feeling unloved, alienated, abandoned. This strategy would have involved a cessation of any well thought out parental assistance towards a sober future since it was totally now up to him.
I agree it is their decision to take action to get sober. But as a parent I feel it is our job to conduct sober strategy research, identify doctors,detox, and rehabs since their brain has been highjacked by the opioids. This results in their reduced capacity to take timely and investigative oriented actions towards regaining sobriety. Not to do so, I felt was a roll of the dice. So although NAR-Anon has its place in potentially supporting and helping parents to establish boundaries to live their own life, for me, I could not totally disenage feeling that risk levels would increase as he would perceive being abandoned in his darkest hour.