Opioid use disorder (OUD) has had a devastating impact in Sullivan County when you look at the number of lives we’ve lost, the families broken apart, and the financial burden placed on medical, law enforcement and social services. We lead the state in opioid-overdose fatalities. 

Some gains have been made in reducing the stigma around medical disorders. For instance, public education and the widespread use of effective medications have demystified depression, making it somewhat less taboo than it was in past generations. 

However, little progress has been made in removing the stigma around OUD. People continue to be blamed for their disorder. 

The public—and even many professionals in the healthcare and criminal justice systems—continue to view addiction as the result of moral weakness and flawed character. This keeps people with OUD from getting the best possible care and leads to overdose deaths. 

If we want to see these folks back in jobs and school, caring for families and contributing to society, we have to make sure that medications for OUD—such as naltrexone, methadone, and buprenorphine—are available in our community. Providers who are trained and willing to prescribe medications for opioid use disorder, plus knowledgeable pharmacists who stock these medications, are crucial to our community’s ability to help reduce overdose deaths.

We need to be a community that encourages people with OUD to seek out medical help. A community where employers will hire people engaged in recovery programs. And a community where non-violent offenders, when appropriate, are referred to recovery programs.

We need to be a community that respects the courage it takes to live with and overcome opioid use disorder. 

We need to understand that the use of medications for OUD is not “swapping one drug addiction for another”—it is a way to treat a brain that has been rewired by excessive exposure to opioids. These medications have been scientifically shown to be the most reliable and effective way to manage the disease.

We need to understand that the severity and persistence of OUD varies, and sometimes these medications must be continued, even indefinitely. We need to encourage persons with opioid use disorder to seek treatment and stay in treatment as long as necessary. 

Alleviating stigma is not easy. Change needs to come from all angles, which involves the hearts and minds of people with OUD, their loved ones, policymakers and healthcare providers. There must be wider recognition that OUD is a chronic disease, and that there are FDA-approved medications that can help people with OUD manage their disease and achieve long-term recovery.

But even if you’re not one of those mentioned above, everyone can make a difference by creating a stigma-free environment for people with OUD in your family, community, workplace or health care setting. Learn more at www.HealTogetherNY.org/Sullivan. 

Melissa Stickle is the director of community services, part of the Division of Health & Human Services in Sullivan County. A 23-year-old county employee and public servant, she leads the HEALing Communities Study Implementation Team in Sullivan.