Home » Addiction Blog » Ohio START Program Extended to Help Kids Affected By Drug Addicted Parents

Ohio START Program Extended to Help Kids Affected By Drug Addicted Parents

Addiction and alcoholism show up randomly for some and takes its time appearing into the lives of others. One way or another, the day comes where we wake up and there is no denying there is some sort of a problem. It’s blatantly right in our faces and can’t be ignored at this point. Death lurks around the corner for all who mess with the beast. Most of us have tried to deceive ourselves and live in a world of denial for the longest time, but eventually, the cat is pulled out of the bag and we have to choose between misery or recovery. Some, unfortunately, never make it to that stage and wind up being another statistic.  

Chances are if you’ve been online or picked up any article of news, you’ve stumbled across one or more of the words: Narcan. Overdose. Opiates. Epidemic. Fentanyl. Addiction or Alcoholism. These are just a few of the terms that have been littering the public news over the last couple years. Booze and narcotics have always been around but now there is a drug epidemic that is spreading like wildfire and there aren’t enough extinguishers to put an end to it. Across the nation, addicts and alcoholics are passing away prematurely due to the wretched nature of the disease of addiction and there doesn’t seem to be anything that’s putting an end to it anytime soon. Unfortunately, with something this serious, there really isn’t anything that can be done to put a complete stop to all the overdoses and deaths occurring. Addiction and its effect on the United States is something that can really only have a band-aid put on it in the meantime.

At the top of this list of poor states being run by chemical dependency is Ohio. Numbers are jumping to the point where annual overdose rates have far more than doubled in the last couple years. Morgues are literally running out of room to put the bodies of the deceased and have to rent cold storage units for the body overflow. Yes, our country and planet is overpopulated, but these people were once living breathing people just like you or I. Addiction and alcoholism walked into their lives and took them out before they could find a solution or latch onto one at least. Children are walking in on and finding their parents dead in their bedrooms. Just in March, Trumbull County Ohio had 82 people overdose and die in a 15 day period. It’s all completely baffling to see the wreckage left behind.

children laying in the grass

So as the opioids spread and the epidemic takes over the lives of so many, the question that remains is, “what now”? What kind of band-aids and duct tape can be provided to hold everything together while better solutions are put into play? This walks us right into the brand new program of Ohio- START (Sobriety, Treatment and Reducing Trauma). The program’s goals are to help people realize that addiction and alcoholism are family diseases. Attorney General Mike DeWine says, “The goal of this program is to stabilize families harmed by parental drug use so that both kids and parents can recover and move forward with abuse-free and addiction-free lives”. It will help to target the Ohio counties that have been hit the hardest with overdoses and opioid-related news in the last several months. For the record, this makes 18 counties that have now signed up for the program to help try and de-escalate the damage being caused by chemical dependency.

The program is being taken with utmost seriousness from the Ohio inner workings as a whopping $4.6 million in total has been added to the budget to help strengthen the end result. Money well spent if you ask me. The youth are the future without question and when children are being succumbed to the dangers of addiction and alcoholism because of parents- something has to be done sooner than later. At the same time, the parents are not completely to blame because addiction and alcoholism will turn everybody into the victim one way or another. The Ohio Start program will be heavily therapeutic and will focus on neglected kids through the usage of family peer monitoring, counseling for children, and addiction therapy for the adults and parents.

It’s been openly admitted in various reports that the diseases of alcoholism and addiction have not been treated in an effective manner; regarding them as only a minor health issue. As time and studies continue on, it is becoming abundantly clear that often times medical help and conditioning is needed is serious cases of alcoholism. This can be true from a physical stance while detoxifying, or to a mental degree when therapeutic action is needed. Another rising factor to add for helping treat alcoholism is the fact that roughly a little less than half of addicts and alcoholics are dual diagnosis as well. It just comes with the territory. When all the facts are kind of laid out, it’s apparent there are more addicts and alcoholics out there using than there are that are getting better. The statistics just wouldn’t be what they are.  

Life Extensions

Addiction is just plain ugly to look at. The hideous disease will take man, woman, child, or baby. Some are able to live the party lifestyle and at the end of the day walk away from it all and still maintain their sanity. For many of us, this is even close to the case. Our lives revolve around the idea of obsession and wanting more as we become slaves to it. Fortunately, there is hope. If you or a loved one has been struggling with getting a firm grasp on sobriety and need treatment, please call 1-800-481-8457 or visit oarcstaging.wpengine.com. Our teams of specialists are waiting by to help figure out what options are best for sending your life is a comfortable direction that you can proudly stand behind.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content