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Akron Beacon Journal
Drug crisis
Struggle
against heroin epidemic draws friends, families of addicts to huge
gathering at Lock 3
By Nick Glunt
August 9, 2016
While a woman told how her daughter died of a heroin overdose, a
grieving mother in a crowd of a thousand listeners held a sign
depicting her own smiling son.
As the speaker said her daughter’s addict friends opted not to call
paramedics for help, the mother in the crowd, Michelle Chandler, felt
her knees buckle. She collapsed just as a friendly face arrived at her
side to offer comfort.
“It’s OK,” event organizer Billy Pfaff told Chandler. “You’re not
alone.”
None of the thousand people who gathered in Akron’s Lock 3 Park to
rally for heroin awareness were alone Tuesday. While speakers called
for reform and more resources to combat the nationwide epidemic,
parents like Chandler battled their emotions.
Chandler’s son, Timothy Smith, 27, died in 2013 of an overdose. His
friends picked his home clean of money and valuables rather than
calling paramedics, just like the daughter of the woman who spoke.
Chandler didn’t even know her son was using heroin.
She said it’s been three years, and still she struggles.
“It’s hard. It will always be hard,” she said through tears. “But it is
nice to know I’m not alone.”
Pfaff, who organized the event, was among the first speakers to address
the crowd. He’s the head of the Boston-based group Heroin Is Killing My
Town, which boasts a Facebook following of almost 70,000. He announced
Saturday that he’d put on the event in Akron after the city saw more
than 300 overdoses in a month.
“There is hope, and people do recover,” he said. “People need to be
respected, and if someone’s down on the ground, you bet your ass you
better pick them up and help them.”
Other speakers — including members from a list of local nonprofits and
anti-heroin grassroots groups — called for Akron police to start
carrying the heroin antidote naloxone like paramedics do, treatment
facilities to get beds for patients and Gov. John Kasich to declare a
state of emergency in Ohio in response to the heroin epidemic.
In the crowd was Cari Ayers of Uniontown, who attended the rally with
her two children. She spoke candidly about drugs with her kids, Nathan,
11, and Gracie, 7.
“As rampant as this problem is, I think it’s important that children
know the possible outcomes,” she said. “Plus, kids are starting these
sorts of behaviors earlier and earlier, and addiction runs in my
family.”
In 2012, her brother David Ober Jr., 38, died of an overdose.
“I definitely want my kids to know this can kill you,” she said.
Asked what prompted her to attend the event, Ayers said a video Pfaff
posted to Facebook struck a chord with her.
“He ranted that there’s a four-week wait to get into IBH [Addiction
Recovery Center in Akron],” she said. “That’s too long. When you’re an
addict and you make the decision to get help, you need to be able to
get that help right away or that decision will slip away.”
The rally — and Pfaff’s dedication to the cause — even prompted people
who haven’t been touched personally by addiction to attend.
Katrina Whited of Hudson held a sign reading “[Akron] Mayor [Dan]
Horrigan — we need your help.”
“People are dying right now on the streets,” she said. “I don’t know
anyone who’s affected by this personally, but that doesn’t matter.
We’re all affected.”
She said it’s “sickening” to hear the stories parents told on the stage.
“If we don’t address this problem,” she said, “we’re all going to
suffer.”
Read this and other articles at the Akron Beacon Jounal
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