The Appalachian Opioid Epidemic ft. Mindbloom
Growing up in Southeastern Ohio, I was exposed to extreme poverty and a rising opioid epidemic.
Meth labs were blowing up just 10 minutes away from my childhood home. Family members of people I grew up with were running them.
My high-school summer job as a lifeguard turned into being a babysitter for children who didn’t have stable home lives. We were feeding them on our lunch break and holding their hand when they were nervous to go down the slide.
My father was an alcoholic who abused his and his mother’s prescription drugs whether he was taking them himself or selling them to random men who would pull up in our driveway.
The world around me was fueled by fear and the lack of resources. This is the exact reason why I wanted to work with Mindbloom — they were creating options for addicts and those with difficult mental health statuses versus sending people to the hospitals that were making them sick.
The analysis by Yost’s Scientific Committee on Opioid Prevention and Education (SCOPE) found the death rate in Ohio from opioid overdose at 11.01 per 100,000 population in the second quarter of 2020 – the highest rate in 10 years.
When there isn’t money to be found in the local community, there are lack of options. You can no longer consider leaving town to find resources to help you. Most people in these positions do not have cars, there are no Ubers in our towns, and no public transportation. You are stuck with your surroundings. And if there is one thing that has been proven to us — the government’s top priority is not to ensure the health and wellbeing of the people in this region. Appalachia has time and time again been pushed to the side and forgotten.
Why are people in Appalachia at risk?
There are several factors that contribute to the higher rates of opioid misuse and overdose in these regions. A large portion of the population work jobs that have a higher likelihood of injuries. This pipeline is simple: you work a physical labor job, you become injured, you go to the hospital to be prescribed medication, you often are offered Workers Compensation, you sell the drugs to people in your community to make extra money, you refill the prescription to repeat the process. In parallel, there are not many (if any) treatment centers in these regions and most people are on government-assisted healthcare (which is very limited).
The ARC reported that in 2015, deaths due to “diseases of despair”—such as drug overdose—in Appalachia occurred at a rate that was 37% higher than the rest of the United States.
Our work with Mindbloom + the future of healthcare
There are ways we can redefine how we heal. The same systems that are supposed to heal us, were making my community sick.
In this case, I strongly support creating progressive ways to incorporate health into our lives, with less reliance of the government. I have always been a proponent of psychedelic medicine — an industry I want to continue to keep a close eye on. So, when I came across Mindbloom and the story of Founder Dylan Beynon, I was truly inspired (and more so, curious). The abuse of drugs led to the death of his own mother, while ketamine therapy ended up saving his dad. I was attracted to the idea of someone building something that felt close to home, while simultaneously being a solution for Americans nationwide. The company feels meaningful and dedicated to creating solutions outside of the norm. I feel that once we start to make therapies like Mindbloom more accessible for people of regions that are experiencing the heaviest blow, the closer we are to reaching longer-lasting solutions. I am excited for the future of this work and to continue to support Mindbloom in their growth!
You can read more about Raaw Studios’ work with Mindbloom here. Read here to learn more about the efforts of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).
Founder, Samantha Taylor.
