Offering an early warning
A voicemail from the Shelby County District Attorney’s office isn’t something most parents expect. And for two Oak Mountain area parents, the message left by Assistant DA Alan Miller was even more of a shock.
“He said he had some information that he needed to share with me. When I called him back, he said that our son had been in contact with a drug dealer, and that’s all he would share over the phone,” said John Smith, whose name has been changed to protect the identity of a minor. “When he made that statement, I still didn’t think there was anything going on as far as drug use. We didn’t see any signs or symptoms at all.”
The phone call was the Smith family’s introduction to Compact 2020, a Shelby County initiative that launched last July as a way to combat drug use and addition in the area. While Compact 2020 started with equal focus on three operating divisions — administration, education and communications for community and in-school education; a tactical unit for information that could lead to drug arrests; and a compliance unit to work with individuals in the court system — they started learning they might not be intervening early enough, Miller said.
“We started with community supervision of drug court participants,” Miller said. “Over time, those participants helped us to realize that we were not intervening early enough to prevent addiction and the tragedies that too often flow from substance abuse.”
Most individuals who were already in the court system said their substance abuse started when they were teenagers, Miller said, so Compact 2020 started shifting focus toward schools and helping individuals in that demographic.
“It’s a very difficult age group to police,” Miller said. “It’s difficult to infiltrate. When you’re dealing with substance crimes, drug crimes, you typically use informants or undercover police, things like that. Those are avenues of approach that are not available to us.”
Through school resource officers and other law enforcement resources, including checking social media accounts that show off drugs or drug use, Compact 2020 identifies “at-risk” students, validates the information they have received and reach out to parents.
“We present them with a wide array of options and resources, but we primarily want to let the parents know that their child is using mind-altering substances that all too often lead to addiction or death,” Miller said.
Previously, law enforcement would have to hold onto this information unless the individual was “holding” — in possession of drugs — and could be arrested.
“It just seemed like a much better idea to take the information we have and get it into the parents’ hands,” Miller said.
Alerting parents also helps break down former fears or views of law enforcement as the opposition. Because parents can get help for their child without fearing they will be arrested or face criminal charges, they are more likely to come forward with information in the future, Miller said.
Even though they had no suspicions or knowledge of their son’s drug use, John and Jill Smith said they didn’t question what Miller said.
“They had hard evidence,” said Jill Smith, whose name has also been changed. “There was no arguing it, and the way that he presented the information, I felt he was very gentle.”
The Smiths confronted their son, who was a high school senior at the time, a few days before Christmas.
“He admitted to contacting drug dealers to buy something for a friend,” John Smith said, who said his son had been using pills and smoking marijuana. “So he admitted to a half-truth. … Alan’s story was totally different from what our son had told us, so there was a lot more. And we fully believed [Miller] of course. We were shocked, disappointed and willing to do whatever we could with Alan.”
He even offered up his son’s phone in case Miller needed it for evidence, John Smith said.
After Miller’s initial contact, he spoke with the Smiths about resource options for their son. He provided contact information for Bradford Health Services, a drug rehabilitation clinic; offered to send a drug dog to their house and took their son on a trip to drug court.
“He talked to him and gave him a very real world wake-up call,” John Smith said.
“I think this is the healthiest warning you can get without being in the orange jumpsuit in trouble,” Jill Smith said.
The week after Christmas, their son started treatment at Bradford, just a few days after the issue was brought to the Smith’s attention.
“As a Christian, I can see God’s timing in all of this because I can see how everything fell into place,” Jill Smith said. “[Our son] was at a crossroads. He had to choose.”
While working with Compact 2020 provided resources for treatment and counseling and helped intervene before their son was arrested, the Smiths said it also opened their eyes to the realities of drug use in their community.
“The drug problem is so much worse that I would have ever imagined,” John Smith said. “My son told me that it’s much easier to get marijuana than it is to get alcohol at school.”
“Also, having Alan say this affects the whole community [helped],” Jill Smith added. “It doesn’t matter your gender, your religion, your age. … I think it’s way more rampant than we realized. People don’t talk about it in general, when your kids are struggling or your family is struggling, people don’t talk about it.”
In 2015, there were 57 overdose deaths in and around Shelby County. That number has decreased during the past two years — to 36 in 2016 and to 10 so far in 2017 — but Miller said that does not mean drug use has decreased.
“I would love to be able to stand up here and tell you the reduction of these deaths is due to the emergence of Compact 2020 last July,” Miller said during the June Hoover Chamber of Commerce luncheon. “I’m concerned that what we’re actually seeing there is an increase of Narcan administrations.”
Narcan is a prescription drug that can stop and reverse the effects of opiates, preventing overdose deaths. Paramedics and police are now able to carry the drug and administer it on scene, which might be what led to fewer recorded deaths, Miller said.
When parents are confronted with the information Compact 2020 can provide, sometimes they are shocked and hesitant to start treatment for their child, Miller said. Even if it takes a few days to process, however, he said they normally agree to utilize some of the resources for their child.
As families go through the program, Miller said he has seen a difference for those with strong parenting and a good foundation.
“Every parent wants this to be over quickly, and it all depends on how long your child has been using,” Miller said. “And if it’s addiction, more than likely you’re dealing with a lifelong issue.”
Their son wen through a multi-month intensive program at Bradford but was able to stay home throughout the process, for which Jill Smith said she was grateful.
The journey was a tough road, she said, but Compact 2020 “guided our footsteps, to know what the next right thing was for every little phase,” and their son has come out of treatment back on the right back.
“I think he’s learned at this point that his story can help others,” she said. “I think that makes the experience overall have value, if his story can be used to encourage and to help someone else.”
“He’s graduated, he’s alive, he’s going to college and he’s still got his job,” John Smith said. “He’s doing well, plus his attitude has really changed.”