More adults in the U.S. use prescription painkillers than use tobacco, the latest milestone that highlights an opioid abuse epidemic sweeping the nation and particularly Tennessee, where there are more opioid prescriptions than people living in the state. A survey released in September by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 37.8 […]
Nashville’s fledgling addiction recovery high school
A couple hours before lunch, 15-year-old Owen Rockenbach was perched on a beanbag mattress on the floor, notebook in his lap, talking about depression with a clinical psychologist. It’s just another day at Ridgecrest Academy, which is definitely not just another high school. “The teacher picked up Chinese food for the kids for lunch the […]
Toll on Tennesseans Challenges BlueCross to Tackle State’s Opioid Crisis
Last fall, Beth Anderson had hope that her daughter, Olivia Sucher, could break the grip of addiction. Olivia had the love and support of family and friends on her side. April 2, 2016 changed all that. With a phone call early that morning, the BlueCross employee learned that an overdose had claimed the life of […]
Drugged driving overtakes alcohol in Tennessee road deaths
She buckles a stuffed teddy bear into a baby car seat and heads down the same two-lane country road where her son was killed in 2014. The teddy bear’s skin is denim — a favorite pair of Jacob Akers’ jeans. Its shirt is purple, the color of Lipscomb University, where Akers had graduated pre-med just two […]
Tennessee doctors: No one knew painkillers were so deadly
My cousin come up from Knoxville And he taught me a thing or two Now I’m headed nowhere but downhill With the OxyContin blues — Steve Earle, “OxyContin Blues” You can trace the history of Tennesseans’ problems with substance abuse by listening to their music. In 1957, Robert Mitchum was roaring out on Thunder Road […]
Fighting for our lives: Tennessee’s opioid crisis
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 […]
Count it, Lock it, Drop it combats painkiller addiction in Tennessee
Adam Allmon craved the euphoria and confidence of a high so much he would “rob you, steal from you and manipulate you” to get what he wanted. What he wanted was drugs. First cocaine. Then meth. When he awoke in a trauma unit after a car wreck, he became enabled by a new intoxication. Painkillers. The crash happened on a clear October afternoon […]
Family and Friends Main Source for Opioids
Opioid abuse is a nationwide epidemic, and Tennessee is one of the top states for overdose deaths. Count It! Drop It! Lock It!™ (CLD) is focused on educating Tennesseans on what they can do to help stop abusers from having easy access to opioids. CLD encourages all Tennesseans to count their pills, store them in […]
Opioid Abuse in Tennessee
For many of the millions of Americans caught in the growing scourge of opioid abuse, the outcome is far worse. And few places have been hit harder than Tennessee. The state said at least 1,263 Tennesseans died from opioid overdose in 2014, the most recent figure available and one that points to rampant abuse, misuse […]
