#BrainAwarenessWeek Scott Gehring Urged Students ‘ Contact their Legislature ‘ to Fund Drug Prevention
Scott Gehring wants the Ohio legislature to approve funding to help fight against drug addiction. Specifically southwest Ohio’s opioid and heroin epidemic. He urged students at Miami University of Ohio’s Hamilton campus to contact their local legislature.
Gehring is the CEO of Sojourner Recovery Services in Hamilton, Ohio. Sojourner is a nonprofit providing mental health and addicting services to residents of Hamilton. Miami University — Hamilton sits across the street from Sojourner. Both teamed up fight the social and cultural scars of addiction as part of #BrainAwarenessWeek.
And funding isn’t the only problem. In Ohio, heroin and opiates took the lives of 2,744 people according to a 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
But why would one choose heroine over opiates? It’s cheaper and more robust said Scott Gehring, CEO of Sojourner Recover Services in Hamilton. Gehring added, “Heroine is 85 percent more potent than morphine. It’s cheaper than a pack of cigarettes”.
Who knew a community with Interstate 75 connecting Dayton and Cincinnati would be a bad thing? The Taliban lost control of their opiates and now drug lords in Mexico profit. Many blame heroine but it’s also opiates or prescription pain relievers.
Gehring told students about an 11 year old who had an IV heroin addiction. When asked about why a child would be addicted to heroin, Gehrine pointed towards a family’s environment. The brain’s chemical mix can be affected too.
Life sustaining activities like sex, eating and drinking water stimulate brain activity that produces dopamine — a neurotransmitter that rewards the feeling of accomplishment. That is how dopamine is normally produced.
But opioids and heroin elicit 10 times as much dopamine given one’s brain a false sense of security. It then damages that reward system. The brain’s chemical makeup has been altered. It gets worse for younger people introduced to heroine and prescription pain relievers Gehring said.
“The earlier you are the more likely you’re dependent on opioid” said Gehring.
Barbara Oswald, Assistant Professor of Psychology said to students,” I’ve been trying for three years to set up an event like this”.
Miami University Hamilton based the Regional Campuses Center for Psychological Inquiry is also holding a “Brain Trivia Contest in Schwarm Commons Tuesday 12 pm.
#BrainAwarnessWeek at Miami Hamilton ends Thursday 11:30 am with several events:
Build- A Neuron Contest
Beer Goggles
Optical Illusions
The Dana Foundation sponsors #BrainAwarenessWeek that runs nationally from March 14th to March 20th.
