TAMPA, Fla. — Some of the nation’s top minds when it comes to preventing drug abuse are in the Tampa Bay area this week.
The Eighth Annual National Drug Prevention Summit is taking place in Tampa, and information coming out of the summit is particularly relevant to the Tampa Bay region.
Stephen Sunquist is a vendor taking part in this week’s national drug prevention summit. As a teenager, Sundquist was injured playing baseball. He got hooked on painkillers and ultimately overdosed on heroin.
“You know, I was full-blown addicted by the time I graduated high school,” Sundquist said. “Ever since I found the solution, I’ve dedicated my own life to helping others find recovery from their addictions.”
Hundreds of professionals from across the country are gathering for the two-day event in Tampa, discussing topics that have rattled the state and the nation. These include issues like legalizing pot, fentanyl and vaping among young people.
Prevention, they say, is key.
“Research shows that approximately 90 percent of addiction starts in adolescence,” said Amy Ronshausen, Executive Director at the Drug Free America Foundation. “And if we can keep kids from using drugs until their brain is fully developed, which is around the age of 25, they have significantly less chances of becoming a substance abuse or later in life.”
Speakers at the summit include experts like Matt Rossheim, discussing the resurgence of high-alcohol content beverages, often marketed to young people.
“Right next to the chocolate milk and juice. Coolers, packed full of them. And lethal doses of alcohol available for less than $10,” Rossheim said. “I hope that we can get some pressure on regulatory agencies -- that we can get better federal and state laws and better enforcement of existing laws.”
Dotti Groover-Skipper works with the Salvation Army’s Anti-Human Trafficking group. Groover-kipper is here to talk about the link between drugs and human trafficking.
It’s a major issue in Tampa Bay with major events like WrestleMania and the Super Bowl coming our way over the next year.
“We know that businesses are already ramping up to be prepared for this. Probably massage parlors. You know, many of the massage parlors in our area are fronts for brothels,” Groover-Skipper said. “It is a means of a way to try to control the victim by getting them addicted, and then taking the drugs away until they start begging for them.”
Tuesday’s keynote speaker is none other than the nation's “top doc:” U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams.
About 90 percent of those at the conference are focused on drug prevention. The rest are substance abuse, mental health counselors and law enforcement.
Together they hope to share info and devise strategies aimed at stopping addiction before it takes hold.
“You know, we can’t do this alone. We need all these organizations to come together. To work together. To help anybody that’s struggling,” Sundquist said.
“It just reminds us why we’re all here,” said Ronshausen, adding, “and gives us the ability to continue our work and give us the hope that this isn’t inevitable.”
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