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Editorial: Elk Grove Village adds a layer of commitment to opioid fight

By now, anyone who is not aware that the nation is locked in the grips of an opioid crisis must be deliberately avoiding reality. Lack of awareness is an issue only to the extent that people fail to acknowledge how likely it is to affect them, their family or their neighborhood.

Which is one reason the six-pronged approach announced last week by Elk Grove Village is so encouraging.

One of those prongs, to be sure, is education - keeping people informed about the realities of drug addiction in their midst.

But the other five combine to produce a comprehensive commitment to do something about it. They are: providing Narcan kits extensively to help reverse overdoses, partnering with treatment institutions, staying in touch with people who need assistance, building and encouraging support groups and infusing law enforcement actions with compassion.

Desmond Raftery, who leads Elk Grove Village's social services, said the village's program is about "using recovery, compassion and commitment as the pillars to help others and to save lives."

Recovery. Compassion. Commitment.

Communities across the suburbs are struggling to find the right combination of those concepts, and some are making headway. Most collar counties already have drug courts dedicated to the peculiar circumstances of drug addicts and drug crimes. They all have specific initiatives under way. Many suburban police departments have expanded the use of Narcan and naloxone to save lives. Rolling Meadows and Naperville, among other communities, have launched community-based programs.

Elk Grove Village's announcement recognizes the value of these efforts. With the promise of spending as much as $400,000 on the program and the specific identification of treatment partners, the village is cementing its commitment to approach opioid addiction as more than a law enforcement challenge and to recognize it as a public health crisis.

Mayor Craig Johnson emphasizes the village's program is rooted in that awareness.

"Addiction is a disease," he said. "That's a point we're going to hammer, hammer, hammer."

And then, the community will focus on helping the people who get the disease.

"Getting clean from drugs is very likely the hardest thing that they will ever do in their lives," Raftery said. "If it takes years, we will continue to be with them. That is our care, our commitment to them."

Ultimately, as more than two decades of experience with a heroin and opioid epidemic have proved, it is only that level of commitment that can produce lasting results.

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