Arms Wide Open community forum

WORDS BY SUSAN A. STIBBE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DENNIS KRULL, 5FOOT20 DESIGN LOUNGE

According to Chuck Rosenberg, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Administrator, “We will lose 47,000 people to drug overdoses this year in the United States and we know that base number is certainly more since drug overdose deaths are vastly underreported.” He continued, “This is now a crisis, an epidemic, unprecedented and historic.”

Arms Open Wide was the third in a series of community forums addressing the opiate and heroin crisis in the Fargo-Moorhead region. The goal of the organizers was to bring together experts from the medical community, law enforcement, treatment centers, education, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to discuss how communities can work together to find new solutions for this substance abuse problem.

Monica McConkey, the director of business development at Prairie St. John’s, was one member of the core group that met after overdoses and deaths from opiates and heroin started hitting our area last year. “We wanted to inform the community about the dangers of opiates,” said McConkey. “As Chris Myers, U.S. attorney for North Dakota, said at one of our first meetings, ‘I am sick and tired of talking to parents of kids who died,’” McConkey said.

Several hundred community members attended the forum held at Fargo South High School on Wednesday, September 7. In addition to Chris Myers and Chuck Rosenberg, the other speakers were Drew Wrigley, North Dakota lieutenant governor; Birch Burdick, Cass County state’s attorney; Jeff Schatz, Fargo Public Schools superintendent; Lynn Kovash, Moorhead Public Schools superintendent; David Flowers, West Fargo Public Schools superintendent; Dr. Anne Blackhurst, MSUM president; Dr. Dean L. Bresciani, NDSU president; Dr. William J. Craft, Concordia College president.

Many of the speakers emphasized that this is an issue for everyone. “We see this across all age groups, racial, urban, rural and economic lines,” said Rosenberg.

“This is an issue for everybody, no matter what your walk of life or who your parents are, this affects everyone. It does not discriminate, it kills,” said Myers.

The speakers warned that the increased abuse of synthetic drugs is especially worrisome. These drugs are often mixed with the painkiller Fentanyl, which is so dangerous that any exposure by touch or inhalation can be fatal. “The dangerous thing now is the synthetics. It doesn’t need to be grown or cultivated and the profit margin is just staggering,” said Rosenberg.

The speakers also agreed that most opiate and heroin addiction begins with the abuse of prescription pills. “Four out of five new heroin addicts started on prescription pills,” reported Rosenberg.

“We’ve got to staunch the demand,” said Drew Wrigley. “This is an insidious addiction. It comes in at the beginning through the front door. The addiction starts with a pill bottle with a doctor’s name on it.”

All the participants wanted to thank the partners in the community who are working to raise awareness about the crisis we are facing in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

“Let me make this one message very clear,” said NDSU President Dean Bresciani. “Students are our most powerful tool in identifying what is going on and how to implement mechanisms to improve behaviors. Do something. Find something to do.”

Chuck Rosenberg concluded, “What you are going to do, collectively and individually, is save lives. ”