Community action makes a difference! The DeKalb County Prevention Coalition wants to make our citizens aware of the epidemic of prescription drug abuse and addiction and take action. The mission of the DeKalb Prevention Coalition is to work to promote a safe, healthy and productive environment that prevents destructive opportunities among the youth and adults of our community.
According to the Tennessee Department of Children Services as of June 8, 2015, there were 855 kids in custody in the Upper Cumberland, which is the highest of all areas in the State of Tennessee. DeKalb has 57 children in care. It is reported that 80% of the removals in DeKalb County were due to drug use.
In the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 70% of people who abused or misused prescription drugs got them from a friend or relative, either for free, by purchasing them, or by stealing them (SAMHSA, 2010). A staggering statistic to be sure, especially when we consider that Tennesseans were more than three times more likely to identify prescription pain relievers (e.g. hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, buprenorphine…) as their primary substance of abuse than the national average in 2010 (SAMHSA, 2012). By not properly controlling these medications in our home, we put ourselves and others at risk, which is why the DeKalb County Prevention Coalition wants to help you learn the best way to protect yourself, your family members, and your community.
Burden Spending is spending related to smoking, underage and excessive drinking, illegal drug use and illegal prescription abuse (i.e., healthcare spending, Medicaid/Medicare, child welfare, income assistance, employee assistance, house/homeless assistance, food/nutritional assistance, family assistance, education, mental health, developmental disabilities, public safety (law enforcement), adult corrections, juvenile justice, drug courts and criminal courts). Tennessee’s cost of burden expenditures related to drug and alcohol abuse was $7.4 billion in 2014. Multiply our population (currently 18,723 according to the 2010 census) times the estimated Federal Per-Capita Burden Spending which is $1,133.1 = $21 million dollars per year.
By having a coalition in our County we can be saving $4.60 per dollar spent reducing burden spending. The State can reduce burden spending as much as -$124,504,787.49 just through prevention efforts enacted by county prevention coalitions.
The DeKalb County Prevention Coalition is working to develop prevention plans to address the staggering number of children in custody and overall prescription drug abuse, but we need your help. We will be working together, as a community to put activities in place that will reduce non-medical prescription drug abuse at the community level. To move forward in a positive manner, it will take our community coming together and getting actively involved. We will partner with youth, parent groups, law enforcement, businesses, schools, religious and civic groups and healthcare organizations. The next Coalition meeting will be June 30, 2015 @12:00p.m. in the conference room at the Haven of Hope counseling center located at 612 South Congress Blvd. Smithville, TN on the bottom level.
If you would like to have more information, please contact Norene Puckett, Coalition member at 615-215-8690 or at norene.drugcourt@gmail.com.
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