What will it take to get through to opioid users?

Prescription opioids are addictive and dangerous. It only takes a little to lose a lot. I think those were the two lines of copy on a proposed public information campaign by the Centers for Disease Control that may soon start hitting newspapers, billboards and even airwaves near you.

The goal, of course, is to remind potential abusers of prescription painkillers that taking too many of the drugs that are designed to rid you of mind-numbing pain after you've dislocated your shoulder or in the wake of a major surgical undertaking can kill brain cells or kill you. That should go without saying, but the sheer number of overdoses in our rural communities have taught us that it no doubt needs to be said many more times than it is.

All too often, those pain pills that could be precious to the people who need them in the wake of a life-altering injury, treatment or surgery, are getting snorted up someone's nose or shot into someone else's vein to deaden the pain of disappointment from something for which there is no manmade substance that can treat. There is no pill that can piece together a broken heart or heal a shattered dream. And, there's absolutely no drug that can treat the devastation addiction rends in a life once it grabs hold and scatters all the bits and pieces to and fro.

Thursday, however, the CDC continued its efforts to educate our communities about the hazards of becoming too dependent on such substances, as it gathered a focus group on the issue. Members included representatives from law enforcement, social services, education, medicine, media and more, and of course, we all brought our unique perspectives on which messages would work, which ones wouldn't and why.

Along the way, I learned a lot. Some messages were ensightful. Others were appalling.

Being a communicator myself, I tend to err on the side of over-communicating. I will tell a story until I'm blue in the face, or until my fingers fall off from typing it, if there's a chance I can get the message across to one person. But, as my fellow participants in the focus group pondered how to get the message of opioids' danger across to potential users, they didn't seem to think there was much chance the real threat would sink in.

"So, how do we reach these unreachable people?" the moderator asked at one point.

She, unfortunately, was met with a row full of blank stares, because any of us who had that answer would likely hold myriad universal mysteries.

In just the two hours of this conversation, I learned that drug abuse is such a generational problem and a family tradition that children in middle schools have been caught crushing and snorting Smarties candies. They've no doubt spotted their parents at home doing the same to painpills. Although they may not have access to the same substances on their own, they do have the access to the tart candies. So, they are mimicking the same with the candies.

A parent in on the conversation shared that observation, and others around the table nodded that they had heard similar tales.

The police officer present reported that officers under his supervision have responded to overdose calls since the distribution of Narcan, a medication made available to reverse opioid overdose, and they have encountered potential overdose victims who reportedly played something they've dubbed The Lazarus Game, named after the Biblical character who was brought back to life.

These drug users allegedly test their "luck" to see exactly how many times they can be brought back to life, with the aid of Narcan.

But, inevitably, one of these times, they'll take one pill too many, snort one gram too much, or wait one second too long to get help. There's really nothing lucky about drug abuse of any kind, and eventually, they may become just like one of the people in the public service announcements we reviewed for their effectiveness Thursday. Then maybe their stories will get through to the local folks who think they'll never fall victim to the drugs their too cool to lose to.

- Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net