across the nation are being federally sanctioned to support, repair, and rehabilitate those individuals and their families to assure an end to this crisis.
As a health care provider, it is my duty and my desire to be instrumental in fighting to end the opioid crisis. In fact, I currently volunteer on a steering committee for a drug rehabilitation center in Huerfano County, Colorado that will be utilizing Cannabis to help people "exit" from their addiction to opioids as well as assisting individuals in avoiding the secondary and often times lifelong dependence on other opioid drugs utilized for maintenance and withdrawl symptoms like Methadone and Saboxone. Huerfano county with a population of approximately 6700 residents has the highest number of opioid related deaths and hospitalizations than any other Colorado county. In January of 2018, Huerfano County filed a law suit against Johnson and Johnson, Perdue Pharma, and Mckesson Corp, siting the deadly effect their misrepresentation of opioids as a "safe, and rarely addictive" form of pain management has had on those who reside within their county.
I wholeheartedly believe that with the use of large doses of Cannabis to manage withdrawl symptoms, people can be free from opioid addiction. I am dedicated to assisting in those efforts and am hopeful that with our success in this tiny Colorado County, this model can be used nationwide to end the opioid epidemic.
However, as a health care provider and a woman of color, it is also my obligation to use examples from the past to uncover potential threats to the health and well-being of all. After years of marginalism, lack of access to adequate health care, rehabilitation services and the criminalization of black and brown folk who suffered from addiction, I must shine the observation light on the roots of crack cocaine in Black communities. I must also be instrumental in helping those who have been affected by the War on Drugs and are now suffering from PTSD and complex Urban Traumas find ways to heal after years of existing without proper therapy and intervention.