The September tour was in full affect and as soon as finished up a grueling month that only afforded me 3 days off, I rolled straight into my October swing. First event was located in Ashville North Carolina. Ashville was another healthcare conference I would be keynoting. The drive into Ashville was interesting because I actually spoke an hour outside of Ashville and it was super country where I went. There was this Santa theme park on the way to the casino where the event was being held and I literally was like, “What the heck?!!” I’ve never heard of it and it looked pretty cool. The area that the conference was being held was a reserve if I’m not mistaken. I knew that there was struggles in the area because when I pulled up to the gas station to get me snacks through the evening, a couple people in the parking lot were clearly struggling with crystal meth addictions.
Crystal meth seems to be on the rise again in the United States. That was a very popular drug through the 90s and early 2000’s. With so many people dying from opioids I’m not fully surprised that meth is making its way back onto the scene. I believe so much of substance use disorder is linked to mental health and events of trauma. This mostly starts in the homes that people are raised. That doesn’t mean that the addiction component is the fault of those who run the household but things can occur or not occur in the house that can emotionally offset a person’s mental health that would lead to a person using drugs as a coping mechanism to deal with their struggles. The addiction that occurs after that is beyond something they can control. The knowledge of this has really helped me understand how to interact with person who struggles with addiction.
My keynote address on breaking the stigmas of addiction was midafternoon. There was a few hundred people in attendance. As usual you could hear a pin drop the entire time I was speaking, especially when I started breaking down the homeless portion of my address. There was no Q&A with this group unfortunately and I had to head out directly after to catch a flight. Thank you to the North Carolina Rehabilitation Association, I’m grateful for the opportunity you gave me to speak!