ADDICTIONS IN THE FOX VALLEY

There is a growing number of substance abuse in the Fox Valley.  At our meeting we had three great speakers come in and inform the club on what is going on in the Valley.  Our first speaker was Officer Sean Kuether with the Appleton Police Department and he is also with the Outagamie County Drug Court and on the leadership team for the Fox Valley Substance Abuse Coalition.  He informed us that the biggest substance that causes the most problems in Appleton is alcohol.  Heroin and Meth are the next biggest issues and is a growing concern in our area.  In 2011 the police ceased 20 grams of heroin, in 2012, 47 grams, in 2013, 80 grams and in 2014, 112 grams. In 2009, 6 people were arrested for heroin and in 2014, 96 people.  Jane Zarnetzke, Intake Coordinator with the Mooring Program, spoke to us about inpatient treatment.  She helps people get in to inpatient treatment and deal with the addictions that have taken over their lives.  Their addictions affect their family members, employment, legal issues and most importantly their health.  The Mooring program help families heal and they work with all kinds of substances.  Half of the people that come in have an alcohol addiction the rest are addicted to meth or heroin and some marijuana.  Each person is treated differently due to their substance addictions and their withdrawals.  Usually they have patients stay from 1 month to 1 year depending on what works for them.  Our last speaker was Kathy Flores.  Kathy is with the City of Appleton as the Diversity Coordinator and on the leadership team for the Fox Valley Substance Abuse Coalition.  Most importantly, Kathy has a daughter, Amanda, who had a substance abuse addiction.   In junior high Amanda started using marijuana at the age of 16 and by 18 was using crack cocaine.  Four years ago she started using heroin.  Amanda lived a very dangerous life and was arrested in 2013 for manufacturing drugs and was sent to jail.  Kathy believes this saved her life.  Amanda had to detox in jail and face her consequences.  She has started rehab and is on the track to rebuild her life.  Over the years when Amanda was using she lost friends, family and most importantly her children.  Kathy’s advice to the club was that you need to take care of yourself first if you have a loved one that is going through this.  If there is shame it will halt the healing process, you cannot have control over everything and most importantly you are not alone.  There are others in our community that either are going through the same thing or went through similar experiences.  Seek out help from friends, family, police officers and share your story.