Tag Archives: Education

Understanding the Deadly Dangers of Fentanyl Use

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Fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, has emerged as a significant public health concern due to its alarming prevalence and deadly consequences. While originally developed for medical use as a pain reliever, illicit fentanyl use has skyrocketed in recent years, leading to a surge in overdose deaths and devastating consequences for individuals and communities alike. Understanding the dangers of fentanyl use is crucial in addressing this urgent public health crisis.

Potency

Fentanyl is estimated to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and significantly more potent than heroin. Even a tiny amount of fentanyl can cause severe respiratory depression, leading to overdose and death. Due to its potency, fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, or counterfeit prescription pills without the user’s knowledge, increasing the risk of accidental overdose.

Risk

The misuse of fentanyl and its analogs has led to a sharp increase in overdose deaths across the globe. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, were involved in nearly 75% of all opioid-related overdose deaths in the United States in 2019. This alarming trend highlights the urgent need for comprehensive strategies to address the opioid epidemic and prevent further loss of life.

Hidden in Street Drugs

One of the most significant dangers of fentanyl use is its clandestine presence in street drugs. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl is often mixed with other substances, such as heroin or cocaine, to increase potency or extend the drug’s supply. However, without proper dosage control or awareness of fentanyl’s presence, individuals who use these drugs are at high risk of unintentional overdose and death.

Increased Risk of Addiction:

The addictive nature of opioids, including fentanyl, poses a significant risk to individuals who use these substances recreationally or as prescribed. Continued use of fentanyl can lead to physical dependence, tolerance, and addiction, making it increasingly difficult for individuals to stop using the drug without professional help. Moreover, the withdrawal symptoms associated with fentanyl cessation can be severe and contribute to relapse.

Addressing the dangers of fentanyl use requires a multifaceted approach that includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and enforcement efforts. Public health initiatives aimed at raising awareness about the risks of fentanyl use, providing naloxone training and distribution, and expanding access to evidence-based treatment options are essential components of an effective response.

Recognizing the dangers of fentanyl use and implementing comprehensive strategies to address the opioid epidemic are critical steps in saving lives and mitigating the impact of this deadly crisis.

Sources:

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Drug Overdose Deaths.” 2021.

2. National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Fentanyl DrugFacts.” 2020.

3. Drug Enforcement Administration. “Fentanyl.” 2022.

4. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.” 2021.

CJ Crawford

DrugFree Greenville Public Education Committee

Teen Pregnancy Prevention

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She sounded young and scared when she called. “I think I am pregnant. I need to see how far along I am. How much is an appointment?”  Hundreds of calls start this way every year at Raffa. Located in downtown Greenville, Raffa Clinic provides free and confidential services that allow a woman to feel safe in confirming her pregnancy, seeing her baby in an ultrasound, and getting support, education, and resources specific to help her situation.  

Texas ranks eighth in the country for teenage pregnancy. Texas also has the second highest rate of repeat births. Hunt County has a high teen birth rate as compared with other counties in the state.  Teenage mothers are often at risk to have low birth weight babies and an increased risk of infant mortality. Access to prenatal care early in pregnancy is key to prevent these from happening. Fear of people judging teen parents and lack of financial resources are the most common barriers cited to beginning prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy for teen moms. 

Raffa Clinic strives to help teen mothers during their first trimester of pregnancy by providing initial prenatal care and Medicaid enrollment at no cost. Early care greatly increases the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy for both mom and baby. Raffa clinical staff also educate on the importance of good nutrition and helping mom (and dad) prepare for childbirth and baby’s arrival as well providing material items such as diapers and car seats at no cost. 

Teenage parents are often at high risk to drop out of school as well. This doesn’t have to be the case. Students can work with their school district to successfully complete high school and get their diploma or GED while parenting. Raffa works one-on-one with teen parents and local schools to help the student successfully navigate finishing high school while parenting by providing life skills and parenting classes at Raffa Family Center in Greenville. 

One young mother said this about her recent visit to Raffa Clinic, “I absolutely love everything about this clinic, the staff is so genuine! I am a young expecting mom and everywhere I went I felt judged, but not here!! The second I walked in the door it felt like everyone there was supporting me. I love the emotional and spiritual support! The nurses also go above and beyond making sure you are informed and comfortable.”

DrugFree Greenville Public Education Committee

The Culprits in Mental Health

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Relationships, school stress, and work worries are the usual suspects that mess with our minds, but hey, sometimes it’s the sneaky world around us that’s pulling the strings. Brace yourself because these four sneaky culprits might just be playing mental health hide-and-seek with you at this very moment! Here are 3 things that likely affect your mental health.

The first culprit is technology.  If you are occupying your time on the World Wide Web then guess what? It is affecting your mental health. You can soak up knowledge, stay connected to health providers, and catch up with loved ones. This brings a mix of perks and pitfalls.  Being overwhelmed with gloomy news and never-ending drama can turn anyone’s mood into a wilted flower, sparking worries about what’s around the corner. Did you know that nearly 60% of young adults (ages 18-25) are seriously fretting about the future of our planet? Social media can stir up FOMO (fear of missing out), the blues, and a dip in self-confidence. Plus, with work emails popping up after hours, thanks to remote work, it’s like the line between work and play got very blurry. 

The second culprit has to do with social drivers. Social drivers of health are like the backstage crew of your well-being, shaping your health behind the scenes. From where you hang your hat to the goodies in your fridge, these sneaky influencers like economic status, education, and even your neighborhood can have a far-reaching impact on your mental health. And let’s not forget the star of the show – the economy, stealing the spotlight in this health drama! Research shows a strong connection between worrying about money and mental distress, and salaries can’t seem to keep up with rising inflation and cost-of-living expenses. A 2023 Gallup poll found that 42% of Americans are worried that they don’t have enough money to pay their normal monthly bills. 

The last culprit is loneliness.  Recent survey findings reveal that over half of adults in the United States (58%) experience feelings of loneliness, especially among low-income individuals, young adults, parents, those from underrepresented racial groups, or individuals living with mental health conditions, who report even higher rates of loneliness. Loneliness is linked to an increased risk of anxiety and depression and has connections to psychosis and dementia. Research indicates that minimal social interaction can have a lifespan impact similar to smoking almost a pack of cigarettes daily or struggling with alcoholism, and is twice as detrimental as obesity.

WHAT CAN YOU DO IF THE WORLD IS WEIGHING ON YOU? Find your support system, set tech limits and boundaries, change what you can and don’t concern yourself with what you can’t, and find healthy coping skills.  If you have no idea how to do the above suggestions then find a local counselor that can help.  Seeking professional help for mental health shows strength and offers support to manage life’s stressors. Counselors or therapists can help identify issues and coping strategies.

Karla Meeks – Marketing Manager for the Mental Health Clinic of Greenville

Drug-Free Greenville Board Member

Gun Safety in the Home

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The responsibility for gun safety in the home begins and ends with the adults in the residence. It is imperative that we not only secure our weapons; but that we teach gun safety to our children from a very early age. We do this because we love them and want them to be safe, right?

               There are laws in most states that impose penalties on adults who make firearms accessible to children through negligence, and we will look at Texas statutes in depth in another article. Let’s focus on safety measures here. And I am specifically addressing parents who have children and teens in your home, car, boat, camper, (need I go on?) or those of you that have the potential to have them come to visit.

               First, never leave a gun unattended. Whether loaded or unloaded, never set a gun down and walk away from it. It is too tempting for children, who want to touch everything they see. Always unload your firearm when not in use and store the firearm and the ammunition in separate locations. Lock the firearms in a gun safe, lockbox, cabinet, or with a cable lock. You can often obtain free cable locks from your local police department. Lock the ammunition up as well and keep the keys to the firearms and the ammunition storage in separate locations.

               I have heard people argue many times that they don’t want to search for the keys, have an unloaded weapon, open a safe, etc. while someone is breaking into their home. I completely understand the need to balance protecting your family from intruders while protecting your family from your weapons. There are many varieties of gun lockers and safes that have touch panels for biometric access. They even work when the power is out. If this is a concern for you, consider getting one of these types of gun safes. They can also be installed in vehicles, boats, and so on.

               Children are often curious and impulsive. How many times have you told them not to do something and they do it anyway? That’s their job—to drive us nuts. So even when we give them warnings, kids often want to explore a gun if they find it. It is our duty to protect them!  Talk with children about what to do if they see a gun. Make sure they know not to touch it, to leave the area right away, and tell you or another responsible adult. Kids see guns every day on TV and in video games and they don’t always understand the difference between reality and fantasy. Give them specific steps to memorize and follow: Don’t touch! Leave! Tell!

               If you allow your child or teen to use a firearm for recreation or hunting with you, it is very important that you make sure they understand that it is never OK to handle a gun without you or another responsible adult there. They should always assume a firearm is loaded and never point a gun at someone. Teach them the proper way to unload a firearm and how to check that it is clear. Consider attending a hunter’s education or gun safety class with your child. Greenville PD offers a hunters education class every summer for youth. And finally, always set a good example with your own safe gun handling practices.

CJ Crawford

DrugFree Greenville Board Member

DrugFree Greenville Public Education Committee

Drive Sober This Independence Day, and Every Day: Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving

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This Independence Day, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Watch UR BAC program, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) want to remind drivers that Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving.


No matter how people choose to celebrate Independence Day, do it safely and always have a sober ride. Anyone under the influence of alcohol that chooses to get behind the wheel of a vehicle not only puts everyone on the road in danger but also themselves. Fourth of July festivities often start early in the day and go into the evening or late at night, causing more cars to be on the roads at night. In 2019, 515 people died in motor vehicle traffic
crashes over the July Fourth holiday period. Thirty-eight percent (198) of those fatalities
occurred in alcohol-impaired driving crashes. Many of the drivers arrested for drunk driving on the Fourth of July have likely been drinking alcohol throughout the day at various planned
gatherings.


“We want our community to have a happy and safe Independence Day, one that they’ll remember for years to come, for all the right reasons,” said AgriLife Extension Family and Community Health Agent Mary Shockley, Hunt County. “We’ve partnered with NHTSA and TxDOT to help remind drivers that even one drink before driving is when impairment begins. Under no circumstance is it ever OK to drink and drive. This behavior is illegal, it’s deadly, and it’s selfish. Do everyone in your community a favor: If you’ll be drinking at a Fourth of July party, or for any occasion, plan ahead for a sober ride.”


From 2015 to 2019, there were 1,339 people killed in drunk-driving crashes over the Fourth of July holiday. Of those people who died in alcohol-impaired motor vehicle traffic crashes, almost 4 out of 5 (79 percent) of them occurred in nighttime crashes (between 6:00 p.m. and 5:59 a.m.). Watch UR BAC’s goal is for everyone to enjoy red, white, and blue in their flags, fireworks, and family gatherings — not in their rear-view mirror. The only way to prevent this is to never drink and drive.


Celebrate with a Plan
This Fourth of July, the Watch UR BAC program, NHTSA, and TxDOT urge drivers to designate a sober driver before heading out for the evening. If planning on drinking, plan how to safely travel without driving.


Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Family and Community Health Educator Mary Shockley, Hunt
County, reminds drivers to follow these tips for a safe night on the roads:
● Remember: It is never OK to drink and drive — even if after only one alcoholic
beverage. Designate a sober driver or plan to use public transportation or a ride service to
get home safely.
● Suspect a motorist on the road is driving drunk or intoxicated? Contact local law
enforcement immediately.
● Have a friend who is about to drink and drive? Take their keys away and make
arrangements to get them home safely.

Building a Healthy Relationship with Your Food

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Food is omnipresent in our human lives and quite literally fuels our physical bodies every day. It is intertwined with our daily routines, family traditions, our culture, and shared experiences. For these reasons and more, being aware of your connection to food alongside maintaining a healthy relationship with your food is imperative to living a healthy life.

According to the National Eating Disorder Association, forming a healthy relationship with food takes conscious effort, but it is possible. This relationship includes relaxed eating, choosing preferences over positions, and practicing balance and flexibility in your eating. Let’s take a look at these principles a bit more closely.

RELAXED EATING: Relaxed eating is the ability to be at ease with the social, emotional and physical components of food and eating. Relaxed eating is attuned to the body’s hunger and intuitively provides for its needs. It is the ability to listen and satisfy your hunger allowing for pleasurable and whimsical eating with flexibility and the absence of remorse. It allows you to eat when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied. It incorporates choices and beliefs about food through a filter of self-love and body wellness that is balanced, not extreme or all consuming.


PREFERENCE OVER POSITION: Eating should be a balanced activity that is neither the best nor the worst part of a day. You should enjoy the foods you consume but not worship them. Flexibility, exhibited through the willingness to forego a preference temporarily, is an essential aspect of a healthy relationship with food. Preferences need to remain just that, and not become an unflinching regimen.


BALANCE: Balanced eating means feeling comfortable consuming a wide variety of foods. In addition to variation in type of food, balance indicates an ability to eat both for pleasure and for hunger. Eating for hunger is great because it nourishes your body. Ignoring hunger cues is a dangerous habit that can lead to more disordered eating patterns and health consequences. Eating for pleasure allows us to associate positive feelings and experiences with food and its pleasurable! Finally, balance also means avoiding trendy diets. Diets usually employ some kind of restriction, be it through food quantity or type. It is neither healthy nor logical to deny yourself food groups or to limit your calories.


FLEXIBILITY: Flexibility is another key aspect of a healthy relationship with food. It refers to the absence of strict rules surrounding eating and food habits. Rather, there is more of an ability to “go with the flow” and accept deviations from preferred foods as a natural part of life, instead of viewing those deviations as a judgment of yourself or your worth. Additionally, flexibility relates to the amount of food you consume. Sometimes, we eat beyond our comfort zone. Maybe you’re not completely mindful or conscious while eating one day, and don’t feel your hunger cues until a bit later. This is not a cause for alarm. Doing this every so often will not alter your health. Trust your body; it is much smarter than you give it credit for. It knows where you need to be and can deal with a little bit of variation. The key is
remembering these principles–-having variation, preference, flexibility–and accepting the changes that come with life.


Reference: Kronberg, Sondra. The Comprehensive Learning/Teaching Handout Manual for Eating Disorders © 2001 Sondra Kronberg, MS, RD, CEDRD-S. Wellness Programs Publishing, 3rd Edition, 516-513-1284

Quit the Hit: How to Break Up with Vaping

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The face of vaping young man on black studio background

What is vaping?

Vaping is breathing in and exhaling the aerosol that is produced by a battery-powered smoking device, called an e-cigarette, that heats liquid ingredients into a vapor. The ingredients include nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals, many of which are toxic.  Some vaping products contain marijuana or other drugs.  Vapes are small and often disguised as USB flash drives, cell phones, pens, erasers, or lipstick. Some are disposable while others can be reused by charging the device and by replacing the e-liquid.  Vapes come in sweet flavors that disguise the harsh taste of nicotine and other chemicals contained in the e-liquid.

Why do I need to quit?

  • people who use e-cigarettes are up to 4 times more likely to start smoking cigarettes
  • it is illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase, possess, or use e-cigarettes
  • vapes have a high level of extremely addictive nicotine, some with an amount equal to about 20 cigarettes
  • the vapor made from e-cigarettes is not made of water, it contains harmful chemicals and very fine particles that are inhaled into the lungs
  • nicotine is harmful to the developing brain and the brain keeps developing until about age 25
  • negative health effects including coughing, wheezing, behavioral and mood changes, headaches, seizures, vomiting, and potential severe lung injury.
  • vaping negatively affects attention, learning, and impulse control, especially in young people
  • vaping is expensive 

How Do I Quit?

When a person stops vaping, they can experience intense withdrawal including strong cravings, irritability, fatigue, headache, sleeplessness, and difficulty concentrating.  Thankfully, there is a lot of support out there for people who want to quit.

  • This is Quitting is a mobile program to designed to help teens and young adults to quit. Join for free by texting DITCHVAPE to 88709. Users receive age-appropriate messages tailored to their enrollment date or quit date. Throughout the program, users can text COPE, STRESS, SLIP or MORE to receive instant support.
  • Parents can text QUIT to (202) 899-7550 to sign up to receive text messages designed specifically for parents of vapers.
  • If you are an adult looking for support to quit vaping or stop using any tobacco product, BecomeAnEX, www.becomeanex.org, is a free, digital quit-smoking plan and community created by Truth Initiative in collaboration with Mayo Clinic.

Compiled by Kathleen Witte

Teach Kids to Love Learning

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Often expressed is the concern that young people are not interested in learning because they are overly occupied on their cell phones and not reading books. However, young people today have never known life without a cell phone device. They use it for everything from scheduling to homework. Kids can learn to love learning while using their smartphones by taking advantage of its capabilities. Here are five suggestions.

Start young, or as soon as possible. Children develop perspectives and adopt habits most easily from a young age. Learning is simply acquiring knowledge. So, looking up story times for the library or reading about a new business in town are learning activities. Although your goal for the child may be more in-depth or broader, simple learning begins with the skills to navigate everyday life. Start leading kids to look for information on their own. Use subjects that the child is interested in to show them how they can find more information. Suggest questions that pique their curiosity such as whether or not dinosaurs had feathers and what makes one car faster than the other. Older kids thinking about careers might want to know how much money different jobs pay. Teenagers who are interested in music might want to know how music is produced professionally.

Set an example. Children imitate what they see. Let them see you learning new things. Looking for a job, setting up a budget, or planning a trip, are all endeavors that requiring learning. Show them what you are learning, why you are learning it, and how you look for information. But keep the sessions appropriately shorter, depending on their age, and do not be disappointed if they seem disinterested. The point is to make them aware of the learning process as a natural part of life and living.

Help kids have good experiences or benefit from learning. For example, if you plan on going out to eat, let the kids research restaurants. Ask them to look up distances, menus, and prices and give their opinion on the best option. If they are asking for a pet, let them to look up the costs of caring for one. Help the kids feel comfortable at places of learning. Within 15 miles of Greenville are 2 colleges and a university which offer events such as outdoor movie nights, festivals, and cultural events at low-cost or free to the public. Use these opportunities to become familiar with what is offered there.

Help identify credible sources. If you are not sure where to start, ask at the local school or public library. Older children who are politically inclined can be helped to find credible sources from different points of view and that prepares them participate in educated discussions. Instead of struggling with your kids to limit their cell phone use, redirect their existing incentive by encouraging them to expand the potential for acquiring information and knowledge that equips them to reach their goals.

Marifrances Casey