As an addiction professional you have been asked by the mayor of your town (Rural or Urban area of your choosing) to serve on an opioid task force. This task force was developed in response to the increasing overdose in the community. The goal of the task force is to analyze the current rates of overdose and make recommendations on how best to address this epidemic. Recommendations should look at any social, cultural, and/or policy-related aspects of the presenting problem. You will select a real town, in which your task force is centralized, and identify that area as either rural or urban.
Instructions:
First, it is important to understand where you stand in relation to the problem at hand. In part 1, please explain your views on addiction utilizing the following areas to guide your self-reflection:
In what type of community (rural or urban area) were you raised, and what impact might this have on your views of addiction? I lived in an URBAN area
What is your cultural identity, and how does that impact your views on addiction? I am caucasian & Italian
What are your family’s views of addiction, and what types of values did they instill in you regarding drug and alcohol use? They don’t like people who do drugs etc.
Imagine that you have a close family member, who is addicted to heroin and at high risk for overdose. If this problem only impacted your family, and your family alone, what might be your recommendations to address the issue, based on insights and information garnered from our course?
