Street roots., February 23, 2018, Page 7, Image 7

Street Roots • Feb. 23-March 1 2018
News
Page 7
RECOVERY, from page 5
One answer may lie in the governor’s
opioid bill. It was one of the two bills on
Oregon Recovers’ agenda for lobbying that
day, and it would create a pilot program
aimed at creating a link between drug
overdose and access to treatment.
House Bill 4143 would also require
licensed prescribers to register with the
Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and
initiate a study on insurance barriers to
accessing drug and alcohol treatment.
The other bill was House Bill 4137, which
would require the Oregon Drug and Alcohol
Policy Commission to complete a strategic
plan for improving the state’s substance
abuse prevention, treatment and recovery
programs. Oregon Recovers sees the
completion of this long-overdue plan as a
crucial first step toward reform.
After a quick coaching session and armed
with plenty of statistics and information
packets, Maylene Grier and Dan Loynes,
both former intravenous drug users, walked
up the Capitol steps to lobby for the first
time in their lives.
Grier has been clean for nearly eight
years, and Loynes just celebrated nine years
clean earlier this month. Now they draw on
their past experiences in their work with
people struggling with addiction. Grier works
with parents whose children are in state
custody through her job with Volunteers of
America in Portland, and Loynes works at
Bridges to Change in Salem as a certified
recovery mentor, working with men coming
out of the Oregon State Penitentiary.
Their first stop was the office of Sen.
Jackie Winters (R-Salem) on the third floor.
They were visibly nervous as they discussed
who would say what in the hallway outside
her office.
Upon entering, they were slightly
disappointed to discover they would be
speaking with a staff member instead of the
senator herself. This would be the case for
most Oregon Recovers appointments in
various offices throughout the day. Much of
this was due to the timing - it was just over
a week into a busy but short legislative
session.
Unshaken, Grier and Loynes pleaded
Oregon Recovers co-founder and director Mike M arshall
talks about the day’s schedule with the citizen lobbyists.
their case to Winters’ two-year staff member
Liz Hartman. They began by recounting
their own history of drug use, how they
triumphed with the help of treatment and
now help others battle their addictions.
“There are success stories,” Grier said.
But, they said, the state isn’t giving them
the tools necessary to help all the people
who need it, when they need it.
“You get a person into detox, where
they’re ‘shakin’ and bakin’ as we say, but
where do they go from there?” Grier asked.
“We’re really good at treating the acute
phase, but we need a continuum of care.”
Loynes added, “This is so big, if we don’t
address it and really prioritize it, it’s going
to become an arterial flow.”
While 1 in 10 Oregonians struggles with
drug or alcohol addiction, only 11 percent of
those people receive treatment, according to
Oregon Substance Use Disorder Research
Committee report released in November.
The national average is 14 percent.
Lori Guerrero, a supervisor at Volunteers
of America who is in long-term recovery,
said one of the greatest needs in Oregon is
additional residential treatment beds for
single dads, in addition to the need for
access to treatment when people need it.
But when asked what she would improve
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Each shoe placed outside the Capitol at the Oregon Recovers lobby day represents a
life lost to addiction.
or change about the state’s alcohol and drug
programming if she had a magic wand and
just one wish, she simply stated, “More.”
Later that day, Page and seven others, all
wearing Oregon Recovers T-shirts, walked
into House Speaker Tina Kotek’s office for
their 2:30 p.m. appointment. When the
receptionist told them they weren’t on
Kotek’s calendar, several of the young men
did not hide their disappointment. “That’s
some bullshit,” one said as he walked out
the door.
Two others decided to go back into the
office and demand someone speak with
them. It worked. The group was invited
back into th e office, w h e re K o te k ’s
legislative deputy director heard them out.
This group had better luck with their next
appointment, where Sen. Lew Frederick
(D-Portland) met with them in person and
was candid when telling them about how
addiction has touched his own family.
Just before lunchtime, everyone gathered
outside the Capitol once again for speeches
and an announcement from Gov. Kate
Brown. Many held signs; some read “4
deaths a day is unacceptable,” “I’m sick of
my friends dying” and “Addicts Matter.”
In a short speech, Brown declared that
substance abuse is a “public health crisis in
Oregon.”
It was an announcement Oregon Recovers
had advocated for in the past six months,
and one that left many onlookers optimistic
and rejuvenated as they headed back inside
to talk to more lawmakers.
The governor also announced she would
sign an executive order that, like one of the
bills Oregon Recovers was promoting that
day, would require the Oregon Alcohol and
Drug Policy Commission to come up with a
comprehensive plan for improving the
state’s substance abuse programs.
“The governor has a stake in it,” Marshall
said not long after the announcement.
“T h a t’s w hy to d ay is so im p o r ta n t - i t ’s a
beginning, not an end.”
Oregon Recovers is determined to push
policymakers to make Oregon go from being
one of the worst states in the nation when it
comes to access to addiction treatment to
becoming one of the best - within the next
five years. It’s a lofty goal, but to those
walking through the Capitol halls that day,
it’s a necessary one.
“I wasn’t a priority if I wasn’t in jail,”
Page told the crowd shortly before Brown
took the mic. “And that’s not OK.”
emily@streetroots.org; Twitter @greenwrites