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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2020
Virus creates challenges for addiction recovery
Threat to progress
on opioid crisis
By CARLA K.
JOHNSON and
REGINA GARCIA CANO
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Charlie
Campbell, nearly 13 years
sober, is feeling tested today
more than ever to stay that
way.
His dad is recovering
from COVID-19 in a sub-
urban Seattle hospital. His
mom, who has dementia,
lives in a facility that now
bars visitors because of the
virus. A good friend recently
killed himself.
Last week, Campbell, 61,
tried his fi rst online Alco-
holics Anonymous meeting.
His internet was shaky and
he didn’t get to speak. The
meeting did not give him
the peace and serenity he
craved.
“I’m a face-to-face kind
of person,” Campbell said.
Still, he hasn’t relapsed.
The coronavirus pan-
demic is challenging the
millions who struggle with
drug and alcohol addiction
and threatening America’s
progress against the opioid
crisis, said Dr. Caleb Alex-
ander of Johns Hopkins’
school of public health.
People in recovery rely
on human contact, Alexan-
der said, so the longer social
distancing is needed “the
more strained people may
feel.”
Therapists and doctors
are fi nding ways to work
with patients in person or
by phone and trying to keep
them in treatment. And
many are fi nding new res-
ervoirs of strength to stay in
recovery.
In Olympia, Washington,
a clinic for opioid addic-
tion now meets patients out-
doors and offers longer pre-
scriptions of the treatment
drug buprenorphine — four
weeks, up from two — to
reduce visits and the risk
Ted S. Warren/AP Photo
Laura Spracklin, center, picks up medication for opioid addiction at a clinic in Olympia that is meeting patients outdoors and off ering longer prescriptions in
hopes of reducing the number of visits.
of infection, said medical
director Dr. Lucinda Grande.
Elsewhere,
federal
health offi cials are allowing
patients to take home meth-
adone, another treatment
drug. And they issued emer-
gency guidance to make
it easier for addiction pro-
fessionals to offer help by
phone, without obtaining
the written consent required
to share patient records.
With cities and states
locked down, online support
groups are forming, among
them a global group started
by a San Francisco-area
tech worker that’s called
One Corona Too Many. In
the New York City metro
area, with more than 6,000
meetings weekly, organiz-
ers offer guidelines on best
practices and tutorials on
how to set up video confer-
ence calls.
Reagan Reed, who leads
the Inter-Group Association
of AA of New York, said
there have been snags. Some
groups did not know how
to change settings to pri-
vate, others have gone over
capacity, revealing phone
numbers.
In suburban Boston,
Catherine Collins, a 56-year-
old recovering alcoholic,
said it has been an adjust-
ment to attend AA meet-
ings via the online platform
Zoom.
Collins, who has been
sober since 1998 and works
for Spectrum Health Sys-
tems, the state’s largest
addiction treatment pro-
vider, said preserving some
social interaction is critical
for those in recovery.
“People need to be
talking about what’s hap-
pening in the world because
if they’re not, they’re at risk
of picking up a drink,” she
said. “It’s more important
than ever now to have hope,
and that’s what these meet-
ings give.”
Job loss is a gut punch to
some, just as they begin to
rebuild their lives.
Courtney Keith, a wait-
ress and the mother of a
13-year-old girl in Toledo,
Ohio, said she spent the last
four years paying off fi nes
because of her past trou-
ble when she was addicted
to drugs and alcohol. She
lost her job when the state
banned sit-down dining.
“I was living paycheck
to paycheck. I have no sav-
ings,” the 33-year-old said.
She’s applied for a job at a
grocery and dug through her
loose change stashes, scrap-
ing together a few hundred
dollars.
She keeps in close touch
with her recovery sponsor.
“I haven’t had any
thoughts about using, but
everybody is different. What
if this does lead to a mass
relapse?” she said.
Richie Webber, 28, who
survived a 2014 fentanyl
overdose and now works as
an addiction counselor in
Clyde, Ohio, said he’s heard
people during online meet-
ings say they’ve already
slipped.
“They’re really trying
to keep it from falling back
into full blown addiction,”
Webber said.
“Isolation is really wor-
rying for me,” he said.
“If you’re shut up in your
house, your windows are
closed, you’re going to get
depressed.”
Campbell, a retired nurse,
is driving from his home in
New Mexico to Washing-
ton state to check in on his
parents again. He got some
good news last week: His
dad’s latest COVID-19 test
was negative.
He’ll said he’ll try online
meetings again, but plans to
mostly lean on phone calls
with a longtime buddy and
the emotional support of his
wife.
“In the short term, you’ve
just got to walk the middle
line and try to fi nd the good
in all this,” Campbell said,
“And know it’s not going to
last forever.”
Associated Press writ-
ers John Seewer and Phil
Marcelo contributed to this
report.
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