Presentation tackles opiate abuse, addiction

The Kalispell Police Department and STOP Prescription Drug Abuse in the Flathead Coalition held a town hall meeting at the Red Lion Hotel last week to address the epidemic of opiate abuse sweeping across the nation.

“Chasing the Dragon,” a documentary produced by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, was shown to viewers with the intention of shedding light on what FBI agent Michael Kulstad called a crisis.

“What you have in your medicine cabinet is not your regular Tylenol. It’s rocket fuel,” said Kulstad to the crowd gathered at Thursday’s presentation.

The film documented the lives of real people affected by opioid addiction. A mother spoke on her daughter’s death by overdose. A woman testified about the ways her addiction took over her life as heroin began to come before her job, her children and her own life. An inmate expressed anger at the ignorance surrounding the subject, the victims and the substance.

“What we’ve realized is we cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” Kulstad said.

According to Kulstad, both prison and treatment programs are incredibly expensive and have a very low success rate.

“This is what the solution looks like,” Kulstad said. “If I can get a room packed with people talking about this, this is where the solution starts.”

Tissues were passed between sniffling viewers as the film ended and a panel of experts mounted the stage to take questions on the issue.

Panelists included DEA Agent Bill Murphy, Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial, Federal Assistant District Attorney Tara Elliot, school resource officer and Kalispell Police officer Cory Clarke and clinical supervisor at the Flathead Valley Chemical Dependency Clinic Derek Dalton.

Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset challenged the crowd to ask difficult questions of the panel.

A woman in the crowd stood and testified to her struggle with addiction that had taken over her life at the age of 15. She said she went through rehabilitation three times and had been in and out of treatment for 12 years.

“I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like treatment’s not going to work,” the woman said. “It’s not going to save me, so what’s out there beside treatment and medication?”

Guest speaker Jim Thompson spoke about his experience with the drug that killed his son.

“There is no redemption in opioid abuse,” Thompson said. “We all make mistakes, and often times we have the opportunity to correct those mistakes. There is no correction with opioid addiction.”

Thompson’s voice shook as he proclaimed his love and pride for his son as well as his disappointment in the choice he made.

“He made a mistake, and it cost him his life,” Thompson said.

Clarke talked about the difficulty of finding opiates once they are in the schools.

“Dogs don’t smell pills because they’re legal, so they’re super hard to find,” Clarke said. Clarke guaranteed that high school kids have seen or been offered these drugs.

Murphy told the crowd to take advantage of meetings, law enforcement, treatment and each other in order to eliminate the issue.

“Talk to each other,” Murphy said. “Talk to your kids. Know what your kids are doing. Know their friends. Teach them options ...”

Dial agreed, offering his own solution.

“Here’s an easy treatment. How much effort and time does it take to sit down with your child and talk about it?” Dial said. “The answer right now is to take some responsibility in your family and for the kid next door and help them.”

According to Dial, 13 people overdosed on opioids/heroin in Whitefish in the last three years. However, as a direct result of the “Chasing the Dragon” program being brought to the area, according to Nasset, three people came forward for help with addiction.

Nasset compared the cost of putting the entire program together ($40,000) as a source of education and prevention to the cost keeping one person in jail for one year ($60,000-$70,000).

“What is that worth in life value?” Nasset asked the crowd. “For those three people that we’ve identified has it paid for that?”

The room echoed with applause and cheers.

Nasset stressed the importance he felt of taking the message the program shared and spreading it.

“The success that we’ve had here locally has been fabulous,” Nasset said. “Let’s figure out how we keep it going. Because we’ve talked about it now, the problem will not be gone.”

Kulstad said he was in awe of the response the program had gotten in the Flathead Valley.

“Ultimately we can all leave here with a great intention,” Kulstad said. “Let’s turn that intention into action.”

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.