From medical professionals to law enforcement to recovering addicts, the opioid crisis has affected people from all walks of life.
At a University of South Florida Wednesday, experts said it will take them all working together to end the opioid crisis.
Retired emergency room nurse and recovering opioid addict, Jack Stem, is now a chemical dependency counselor. He compared addiction to Type 2 diabetes, saying that both diseases are genetically based and lifestyle and environmentally induced. He said addiction should be treated with equal importance.
鈥淲hy don't we treat Type 2 diabetics the way we treat addicts?鈥� Stem said. 鈥淏ecause we accept that as a disease. So I think that's one of the big problems is people see this as a choice and I'm here to tell you, I didn鈥檛 choose this.鈥�
Type 2 diabetes is treated in multiple ways, like weight management, insulin, and a change in diet. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said addiction should be looked at the same way.
鈥淲e must approach addiction in a variety of ways, identifying physiological and psychological causes, as well as taking steps to avoid putting people in addictive situations, such as using nerve blocks, as opposed to narcotics whenever possible,鈥� Castor said.
She says treatment needs to be tackled collectively.
鈥淓ffectively addressing the opioid crisis is going to take our entire community,鈥� Castor said. 鈥淟aw enforcement, USF, and other community partners will have to work together from a variety of approaches in order to make progress in this issue.鈥�
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Cindy Grant, executive director of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance, says the first step is using 鈥減erson-centered language.鈥�
鈥淲e want to refer to them as people with a substance use disorder. They are patients, they are not addicts,鈥� Grant said.
Stem said addressing the stigma associated with addiction by telling his story is the best way to create a recovery community.
鈥淚t takes a family, it takes a village, to succeed and stay clean and sober,鈥� Stem said.
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