Tennesseans will soon hear about Count it! Lock it! Drop it!, a grass-roots effort of Coffee County’s Anti-Drug Coalition.
“What’s wrong, Mama?” That’s the question Olivia asked her mother, Beth, who was wrestling with her own question, “Will Olivia make it?”
For years, Olivia had struggled with pain pill addiction and all that comes with it: disappearances, arrests and an overdose. But Olivia fought to be drug-free, seeking counseling and detoxing on her own three times. Through the ups and downs, Beth always held on to hope for her beautiful, blue-eyed, mischievous girl. She knew her daughter didn’t want this to be who she was, but she had a disease — addiction.
On April 2, Beth received the devastating 4 a.m. call that Olivia was never coming back. An overdose of heroin and other prescription drugs took the life of her 25-year-old child.
This is just one of the real and tragic stories behind the statistics of our state’s opioid crisis. And it’s one that brings the heartache to our doorsteps at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. Beth is a BlueCross employee — just one of many who have had loved ones impacted by or lost to prescription pain medication abuse.
Read the full story on The Tennessean.
