Columbia, SC – LRADAC received a grant from the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS) to focus on enhancing and expanding opioid prevention programs, policies and practices in Richland and Lexington Counties.
LRADAC was awarded $25,000 for Lexington County and $25,000 for Richland County, a total of $50,000. The funding will enable the organization to build its capacity to prevent opioid misuse among county residents through providing education and utilizing valuable partnerships such as those between LRADAC, law enforcement and other human service agencies.
An opioid prevention plan has been developed and will be implemented in both counties by June 2020. Both plans address two primary risk factors which can increase the likelihood of opioid misuse: easy availability of drugs and low perception of risk of harm. The plans include the distribution of products to schools, law enforcement, health providers, and other groups to safely dispose of unwanted, unused or expired medications. The Lexington County plan highly focuses on distributing evidence-based educational materials to all of the school districts in the county, while the Richland County plan aims to increase awareness and education surrounding the identification and prevention of opioid overdose and providing residents with ways to participate and support local opioid prevention efforts.
“It is vital for our communities to be educated on how to properly dispose of medications to prevent environmental harm and most importantly, opioid misuse,” said LRADAC Prevention Director Shauna Cooper. “Prescription and over-the-counter medications are far too easy for our youth to access and we know that early use increases the chances of developing a substance use disorder.”
The grant, titled South Carolina State Opioid Response Supplement (SOR – SUP) Grant, is federally funded by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information about the grant, please contact Kaytee Watson at (803) 726-9457.
