Honoring a Local Leader Working to Curb the Opioid Epidemic

April Rovero, Founder of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse (NCAPDA) and critical force behind the East Bay Safe Prescribing Coalition, has received country-wide recognition for her contribution to opioid overdose and prescription drug abuse prevention. A veteran of 13 years in the world of substance use prevention and harm reduction, April shares her journey: from mother to community leader.

WHAT LED YOU TO CREATE THE NCAPDA?

“My 21-year-old son Joey passed away from an accidental overdose from prescription medications. He died while taking his prescription of Xanax and Oxycodone, and just enough alcohol to put him above the legal limit. With one less pill and one less drink he probably would have been fine…

He died from prescription drugs that we had no understanding of and had never been educated about and I came to realize pretty quickly that there are no organizations that included prescription drug safety in any of their community education.

So, I started speaking out at an event that was held in San Ramon. It was meant to be a parent education session. As I thought about what I could do for other families, I felt like everybody else was at equal risk for this happening because they didn’t understand how dangerous commonly prescribed medications can be.

I really felt that it was important to start my own organization. Instead of being just a mom going into a school, I created the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse. It sounds like a big organization, but it was really just me and it gave me a structure to deliver presentations to the public. First at Joey’s school, in San Ramon and then it just spread from there.”

WHAT IS THE NCAPDA’S MISSION?

“Our mission has been to prevent prescription drug related substance use disorder and overdose death through community education, policy change, and legislative advocacy. We spend time educating people in our community education and for the last three and a half years we’ve taken advantage of the California Naloxone Distribution Project and distributed over 2,000 boxes of Narcan. We do overdose education, rescue training, and we distribute fentanyl test strips with the intent of saving lives through primary prevention and harm reduction.”

WHAT AWARD DID YOU RECENTLY RECEIVE?

“I received the Beacon of Hope award at the annual Rx Summit in Atlanta, GA. It was initially given 4 years ago to Kentucky Congressman Hal Rogers who recognized early on what a huge problem prescription drug abuse had become.

I have so much gratitude. That this Summit continues and that my work over all these years is being recognized at that high level. You know, nobody does this work for recognition; that’s the last thing I’m looking for. But to be recognized, puts that stamp of approval on what I’m doing. It gives me the encouragement that everybody needs to keep going after all these years. The NCAPDA actually turns 13 years old on June 2nd, so it’s been a long time.”

WHAT ASPECTS OF THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC SHOULD WE PAY ATTENTION TO?

“The fentanyl issue. There is a low perception of harm around prescription drugs, and many counterfeit prescription drugs in the form of Xanax, Adderall, Percocet, and Oxycodone pills contain lethal amounts of fentanyl.

They are sought out by people who have a substance use disorder or teens and college students who want to experiment. They can’t go to a doctor to get these drugs, so they turn to fake pharmacies online. We’re seeing more and more young teens even dying from prescription drug related overdoses caused by counterfeit medication.” continued on page 20

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

“If I have to pick one thing, it would be forming the Contra Costa County Meds Coalition back in 2012. At that point, it was really just me – concerned about this issue and wanting to make a difference in my own county. For the last 10 years, I’ve led that Coalition with the NCAPDA as the financial sponsor. Recently, the CCC Meds Coalition became financially independent with its own manager. That’s a key achievement because it’s not easy to build coalitions from the ground up.

Beyond that, I never really know how many lives my work has saved, but at a core level I feel that I have had an impact through education and narcan distribution.”

April plans to expand prevention and harm reduction