Meeting to tackle addiction
Members of the Greene County community are planning a town hall meeting to address the area’s drug and alcohol addiction problem.
The town meeting is open to the public and will be held at Greene County Courthouse in Courtroom 1 at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Robert Terry, president of the nonprofit organization Steps Inside, and other local officials hope this town meeting will be another step in trying to tackle the drug addiction problem in the county.
“It’s not a secret anymore,” Terry said of the drug addiction epidemic. “We are trying to move the ball in the other direction.”
The forum will feature multiple speakers talking about the different sides and areas that addiction affects with a question -and-answer session at the end.
Gary Tennis, secretary of the state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, will be the guest speaker.
Tennis agreed to speak after Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman reached out to him because of Tennis’ previous roles in speaking on addiction.
“We know that the drug and alcohol issue needs to be addressed,” Toothman said. “He will hopefully be able to get the community more interested in facing the problem we have here.”
Other speakers for the meeting include: doctors from the Washington Health System; state police Sgt. Steve Dowlin of the Waynesburg barracks; Michael Cipoletti, an assistant professor of forensic science at Waynesburg University; Craig Wise, the director of Greene County probation and parole; and multiple personal testimonies from individuals who have struggled with addiction issues and their families.
“People always say it’s not in our backyard this, not in our backyard that. Well, it’s here,” Toothman said. “It’s wherever we live in Greene County.”
The forum is structured to provide information on addiction from all sides of the issue and to answer questions that the community may have.
Toothman and Terry both hope that the meeting helps guide people and families on how to handle addiction problems.
“I see so many good families with good individuals who are suffering with the consequences and emotional traumas of drugs and alcohol addiction quietly and privately,” Toothman said. “The help that these people need is not in the kitchen it’s not in the home.”
For more information about the town hall, contact Janette Kline at 724-852-5212.