{"id":30444,"date":"2020-02-26T12:35:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T17:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=30444"},"modified":"2020-03-05T09:11:02","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T14:11:02","slug":"dealing-with-drug-abuse-in-rural-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2020\/02\/dealing-with-drug-abuse-in-rural-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with drug abuse in Tennessee’s rural communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

They cried as they talked about their drug addictions, tears flowing as they waded through their guilt at the pain and turmoil they had caused their families and friends.<\/p>\n

They cried as they confronted the waste they\u2019d made of their lives and relived some of the horrific childhood neglect and physical abuse that contributed to their initial drug use. But when they were told they could stop talking, could stop dredging up the memories making them cry, they declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first priority was their well-being, so we would offer to stop their interview,\u201d says Rick Dierenfeldt, assistant professor of criminal justice and a member of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Social, Cultural and Justice Studies. \u201cBut each of them insisted on continuing. You really got the sense that it mattered to them that someone was just willing to listen to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there was a selflessness about so many of them, too. As we finished the surveys and thanked them for their time, I lost count of the number of people who thanked us for what we were doing and expressed hope that, even if they did not benefit from the study, that other people would.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spring 2019, Dierenfeldt and three others in the Social, Cultural and Justice Studies department received a $50,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Human Services to study drug abuse in rural communities. Working in tandem with the Southeast Tennessee Human Resource Agency, they traveled to three rural counties in Tennessee, where they interviewed 166 people convicted of drug crimes, hoping to get a better handle on the rural drug crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, I think everyone is very aware of the fact that meth and heroin have swept through rural communities like wildfires,\u201d Dierenfeldt says. \u201cWe see the deterioration within the community that comes with these kinds of drug markets\u2014the loss of jobs and income, the closure of businesses, the increase in peripheral crimes and, really, the feeling that you are losing your community and the bonds within it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opioid crisis in Tennessee is so acute that Randy Boyd, interim president of the University of Tennessee system, set up an Opioid Addiction and Response (SOAR) summit in early August to address the issue. Among the attendees were doctors, nurses, law enforcement officers, faith-based leaders, public health experts and addiction survivors. \u201cI was blown away by the magnitude and depth of discussions that we had regarding this important issue,\u201d Boyd wrote after the summit. \u201cSociety has harshly judged those who do suffer from addiction, but addiction is not a moral failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there can be a stereotypical view that people with drug addictions bring it on themselves because they\u2019re too weak or lazy or lack self-control, the situation is far more complex than simple explanations can cover. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to place blame entirely on the person and their choices, but at some point we must begin to recognize that all choices depend on context. They don\u2019t occur in a vacuum,\u201d Dierenfeldt says.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly all of our offenders have experienced at least one adverse experience during childhood and most experienced several, things like verbal, psychological and physical abuse while growing up in a household marked by domestic violence. Parental incarceration, drug and alcohol abuse and broken families are big contributors as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those interviewed:<\/p>\n