Drug Counselor: Education should be focus of opioid epidemic, not harsher penalties

President Donald Trump has unveiled his long-awaited plan to tackle the opioid epidemic. The president is calling for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, which includes the death penalty.

“Drug traffickers kill so many thousands of our citizens every year,” he said. “That’s why my Department of Justice will be seeking so many tougher penalties than we’ve ever had and we’ll be focusing on the penalties that I talked about previously for big pushers, the ones that are killing so many people, and that penalty is going to be the death penalty.”

LINK: Aliviane helping people recover from drug addiction

The plan also focuses on a nationwide public relations effort to convince Americans, particularly children, to not start using drugs. Monday President Trump announced a new website, crisisnextdoor.gov, that warns of the dangers of opioids.

Eugene Flournoy, clinical director for the medication assisted therapy program Aliviane in El Paso, said they treat roughly 200 individuals who are addicted to opioids on a daily basis.

“Medication assisted therapy is not about the pharmacological aspects of the treatment, it also has to do with the therapeutic interventions that are provided,” Flournoy said. “Both hand in hand makes things a lot much more feasible for the person to stabilize and recover.”

Flournoy said additional education is needed. However, he said he doesn’t see incarceration or the death penalty as a feasible solution.

“As a therapist and as a counselor I feel the best approach to perhaps combating this epidemic is through treatment, educating individuals, providing them access to treatment, allowing them the opportunity to refocus themselves,” Flournoy said.

William Thomas said he is now sober, after being formerly addicted to prescription drugs starting at around the age of 18. He said he believes there is an opioid epidemic in El Paso.

“It’s caused a lot of havoc in my life,” Thomas said. “I am a felon. Knowing that I am a felon it has been hard to find a job, but since then I have been able to make it through recovery with support of friends, families, counseling. I now have a masters degree in drug education, two bachelors degrees, so it works out pretty well if you make it through.”