Nonprofit leader pushing for new approach to combating opioid use in Mississippi - SuperTalk Mississippi (2024)

Amid a historic rise in opioid overdose deaths in Mississippi, nonprofit End It for Good is pushing for a shift in approach to combat the abuse of illegal drugs.

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, the state’s opioid overdose began in the 1990s and has been exacerbated by the rise in fentanyl use in the last decade. Overdose deaths in Mississippi have skyrocketed since 2019, nearly doubling from 2019 to 2021. One of every three overdose deaths in 2021 was among people under 35 years of age. The most up-to-date data from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics showed a slight decrease in overdose deaths in 2023.

Christina Dent, founder and president of the nonprofit End It for Good, believes that the sharp increase in deaths over the last two decades is proof that a new approach needs to be taken to address opioid use.

“If we look at why they’re using those substances, instead of just punishing them for using them, we will have a whole lot better opportunity to stop that use,” Dent told The Gallo Show. “We often feel angry about drug use. We’re angry about what it does to families – rightfully so. It can be completely destructive.

“And yet, if we respond to that with anger, we can just keep loading people into prison. But it’s not solving the root cause. It’s actually adding even more pain and suffering and trauma to what they’re already dealing with.”

Illegal drug use has more than doubled in the last 20 years in Mississippi, and more people are using unregulated street drugs than ever before, according to a report from End It for Good. Dent and her team are proponents of a health-centered approach instead of the criminal justice emphasis that currently prevails. The Ridgeland native explained that a closer look at the repercussions of forced care and incarceration points to ineffective rehabilitation for drug users.

“If you become abstinent and then relapse, you are much more likely to die from that relapse than if you had never been abstinent in the first place,” Dent said, noting the higher risk for death is due to decreased body tolerance and being unaware of how much a users’ body can take. “So, we want to be very careful with forced treatment, because it can put someone at a much higher risk of overdose.”

While the heath-centered approach proposed by End It for Good emphasizes education to prevent addiction and overdose before it happens, Dent also says that legislation might be necessary to amend the current criminal justice system.

“For people that made a mistake earlier in their life, I think we need to start saying, ‘How can we, as quickly as possible, help them get on the right track and open as many doors as possible to stay on the right track?’ Instead of putting roadblocks in their way for them to become full participating members of society,” Dent said.

The nonprofit leader also pointed out that, while individuals face a difficult path to rehabilitation and lack of employment, Mississippi’s economy is also significantly restricted by the current approach.

“It’s a piece of the labor participation rate,” Dent said, citing the fact that 1 in 10 Mississippians have a felony on their record, the majority of which are non-violent, one-off convictions. “Because when you have this many people with convictions, and drug charges tend to be the easiest inroad to the criminal justice system, we have so many Mississippians that are quietly unemployed or underemployed. We lose about $2.7 billion per year from those unemployed or underemployed due to previous convictions.”

Dent held up the example of Michigan’s 2020 “Clean Slate” legislation that automatically clears their criminal record if they have a previous, nonviolent offense with a clean record 10 years post-conviction to increase opportunities for employment and housing. Louisiana, Texas, and North Carolina are other examples of “Clean Slate” states.

“The more people we have who are finding fulfillment, who are providing for themselves if they’re able to, that is better for everyone,” Dent concluded. “We can remove some of those obstacles either by not putting someone in prison for a drug possession charge in the first place, or by allowing them to move past that – shortening those lengths and opening the opportunity for automatic expungement.”