((ANIMATION W/ GFX, CAPTIONS, PHOTOS))
((Text over video
More than 40,000 Americans die each year from opioid overdoses.
VOA looks at three stories from the epidemic.))
((PKG)) NASHVILLE: PART 1
((Banner: Chief Bashore: Part 1))
((Producers: Chris Simkins, Jeff Swicord, Jacquelyn De Phillips))
((Camera: Jeff Swicord, Chris Simkins, Marcus Harton))
((Map: Nashville, North Carolina))
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
I started my civilian law enforcement career in Rocky Mount, North Carolina 20 years ago. I worked narcotics for almost eight years. About five, six years ago, I became the chief of police in the town of Nashville.
((NATS))
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
What I’m used to from a police perspective is, people don’t want to engage in conversation or they turn around and walk the other way. Around here, it's just the opposite.
((NATS))
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Hello! People say hi, and they want to know how your day is.
((Lawyer))
Al Fox.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Yes, sir.
Small towns have that charm that I really think help a lot.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Thank you very much.
((Cashier))
Thank you. You have a good one.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
The opioid epidemic here in Nash County has hit us pretty hard. It swept in here pretty rapidly and it has affected a lot of people. Nashville is not a hub for distribution of heroin but we have users here, obviously.
In the United States, almost 114 people every day lose their lives in the opioid epidemic. A little closer to home in North Carolina here, we lose almost four every day. And then in Nash County, we’ve lost a number of individuals.
((NATS))
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Chief Bashore.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
In case you haven't heard of the Hope initiative, in a nutshell, it is an angel program that allows individuals that have a substance use disorder, to come down to our police department. If they have any drugs or paraphernalia on them at any time, I tell them 'turn it over to me. I’m not going to ask any questions.' And we do not charge them with a crime. And we take them in and get them on the path to recovery.
My job as a narcotics officer was that if you were in possession of a drug, and I caught you, I put you in jail. And I thought at that time, and still up until I came to Nashville, that that was the function of the police. That was my job. When I took them to jail, I thought that I wouldn't see them again because they were getting the help that they needed.
This program is a little different approach, obviously, that police are now starting to realize they need to take with individuals that have a relapsing brain disease and it's chronic. So, rather than try to pass the buck and allow somebody else to help those individuals, the police are now doing that.
((Pastor Mike, Nashville, North Carolina))
We thank you Lord for those 300 and some who have come through the Hope Initiative in the last 24 months.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
The candlelight vigil that we did for our two-year anniversary, we gathered at the courthouse steps. It’s one of those things where you look around the crowd and you see a lot of familiar faces and individuals who are in the community working together, so it's not just me against the world. There's a lot of community members that have felt this epidemic touch their lives in some form or fashion.
((Heather Moore, Founder, The Anchor Holds))
We work very closely with the Hope Initiative to be able to help the people that we love.
I'm the mother of four beautiful adult children. Three of them are working toward recovery. I don't want my kids to die from this. I have friends, other mothers that have lost children to this disease. They're my worst fear. I don't want to be that mom.
I just wanted to let you know that Ashley couldn’t make it this evening. But she just wanted me to extend a thank you to the program. She’s thriving in recovery.
We're rural. You know we're little compared to other places, but I guarantee you down this road that I live on, there's probably 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 people that have been touched, have children or have had a family member die of addiction. Just on my road.
We light these candles for our loved ones that are thriving in recovery, for loved ones that are still lost, for loved ones that have passed. Please speak a name, first name only, out loud, so that we all can be with you in this time.
((NATS))
Franny. Michael. Katie and Dillon. Brandon. Craig.
((Heather Moore, Founder, The Anchor Holds))
Amen.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
What led you here today?
((Christina, In Active Addiction))
I’m just tired of life. I’m ready to start over.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Christina came into the Nashville Police Department with her mother one afternoon and she was obviously needing detox.
((Christina’s Mom))
My biggest fear is getting the phone call that she’s ODed (overdosed), that I'll be making arrangements for a funeral. That’s my biggest fear.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
When an individual that has a substance abuse disorder wants to seek help, many times it’s a very confusing process to get that help. They come into the Nashville police department at any time, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and ask for our assistance. And so what we do is a short intake with them to determine what their drug of choice is, to find out a little about their history of their use and then we take them to the hospital.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
So tell me what drugs are you using?
((Christina, Heroin Addict))
Mostly roxies (oxycondone). Starting in January, it got real bad, using heroin and coke (cocaine) and some meth (amphetamines).
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
It’s a very hands-on, person-centered approach to things. It would be easy just to drop them off at the hospital and say 'there’s the door. Go inside, and someone will help you.'
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
What do you know about this program?
((Christina, In Active Addiction))
I don’t really know a lot. Mom’s told me some.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
It’s a voluntary program when individuals come through the Hope Initiative. And so we let them know right up front that we’re not holding them against their will. It really is up to them to see the process through but we’ll be there to help them as they go through that process.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
What we're going to be discussing with you is what you want to do after detox. Long term treatment, residential treatment, is one aspect that we recommend.
((Christina’s Mom))
Absolutely.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
And so, I don't know, I mean I'll ask you this question. How long are you willing to go for?
((Christina, In Active Addiction))
As long as I need to.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Okay. Brain science says that it takes a minimum of 90 to 120 days, three or four months, for your brain to start to function the way it did pre-use.
((Christina, In Active Addiction))
Right.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
You’re not going to be able to do it in 30 days. In order for you to get to a point in your life where you're in a good, long-term, sustained recovery of 80 plus percent being successful, takes five years. So, this is going to be something you're going to struggle with for a while, but every day is going to get better for you, okay? And all the things that you have lost will come back. Okay.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Of the 360 now that have come through our program, I know that five have died. I’ve been to two funerals myself. What I think about is that if the program hadn’t started two years ago, how many more that would be.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Hunter was one of the first ones. And I got to know him fairly well over the course of the time that he was in the program.
North Carolina loses almost three or four every day, and so those numbers haven't dissipated at all over the last couple years that we've been running this program. You know, we continue to try and hopefully we’ll reduce the number of Hunters that end up in cemeteries.
((NATS))
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Hello, Nashville Police Department. Hey, how are you?
((Thomas Bashore, Nashville, NC Police Chief))
We get them checked into the ED (emergency department), into a room. They get a behavioral health assessment done, and then if they meet criteria, they go into a detox facility.
((NATS))
Could you spread your hands.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
We've had individuals come through our program. We’ve sent them to detox. They decided at that point they didn't want to follow through with their recovery. They've returned to the streets. Returned to using again. Returned to a life of crime.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Mom’s here.
((Christina’s Mom))
Got the shakes.
((Thomas Bashore, Police Chief, Nashville, North Carolina))
Over the past two years, there been many days where I just want to throw my hands up and say, this fight is too big for me. But then the sun comes up the next day, and somebody else calls and asks for help, and it's very hard for me to say no.
((Christina’s Mom))
That’s part of it, ain’t it?
((Text over video
This text needs to be written on video:
Living America’s Opioid Nightmare
continues on VOA Connect in the weeks to come))
