Prevention is key
“Prevention is the most important strategy to turn the curve on Vermont’s opioid challenges,” according to the Vermont Opioid Coordination Council’s latest report, Building Bridges.
“The brain continues to develop until the age of 25, and drug use impacts that developmental trajectory. The later in life one is exposed to potentially addictive substances – nicotine, marijuana, alcohol, stimulants, depressants – the lower the chance of a subsequent substance use disorder developing.”
The Opioid Coordination Council’s 2019 report makes policy and strategic recommendations to strengthen Vermont’s approach to addressing the opioid crisis.
In 2017, Governor Phil Scott created the Opioid Coordination Council (OCC) through executive order. Scott charged the Council with identifying best community-level practices and strategies for addressing opioid addiction, breaking the generational cycle and stigma of substance use disorder (SUD) and the stigma associated with it, and supporting long-term recovery.
The OCC’s 2019 report makes recommendations in the areas of prevention, treatment, intervention, recovery and enforcement, including opportunities for enhanced statewide integration and collaboration.
“We sometimes say the antidote to addiction is connection. Truly, the pathway to recovery – for our communities, families, and individuals – is human connection,” said Jolinda LaClair, Vermont Director of Drug Prevention Policy. “Statewide and community leaders together with people in recovery, families and loved ones – this is the path to make real change. Vermont needs to weave the connection between prevention and recovery, supporting resilience for all generations.”
Of the four strategies the OCC deemed their top priorities this year, two of them concern prevention.
The first is to develop a plan for sustainable investment in primary and secondary prevention.
The second is to implement a statewide multi-generation prevention care continuum to promote protective factors and identify risk, including substance use disorder, through screening and sustained home visits, for pregnant and parenting women and their children.
“As with youth use of nicotine products, we must be mindful that the adolescent brain is still developing, and drugs disturb that developmental trajectory,” the OCC states. “The earlier one starts using a potentially addictive drug, the greater the likelihood of developing a SUD. Vermont must commit to investing in robust prevention programming and education to deter the use and abuse of marijuana and other drugs, especially among youth.”
Other prevention strategies in the report include coordinating a statewide Prevention Committee, elevating the priority of prevention and designating a statewide prevention leader, strengthening and aligning regional and community prevention networks, coalitions and collaboratives, implementing statewide comprehensive school-based prevention, and increasing geographic equity and access to after school programs and out-of-school activities.
The state, in this fiscal year and the following two, will invest $200,000 annually in afterschool programming, with a focus on engaging youth while parents are at work.
“It is not an overstatement to recognize the hope that prevention brings forth,” states the OCC.
The Winooski Partnership for Prevention is heartened to see the Governor’s Council turning their eye to prevention after serious study and discussion. As we know, 99 percent of all addiction begins before the age of 21. Therefore, it is vital we educate and empower Vermont youth and implement protective factors in their psychologies and neighborhoods to prevent addiction.
In addition, for every dollar we invest in prevention, we could save $10 to $18 in costs associated with health care, criminal justice, and lost productivity. The Winooski Partnership for Prevention agrees with the OCC that investing in prevention is the key to turning the curve on the state’s opioid crisis and other substance use issues.