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Project First Step Leadership Seminar

Memorial Baptist Church
Norwood , NC

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The opioid epidemic continues to grow. In North Carolina and Stanly County, as in our nation, the use of prescription pain killers and opioids has reached epidemic proportions. If you want to know what the extent of the heroin problem, talk to the charge nurses or doctors at our local hospital or the Health Department; they will tell you how bad the opioid epidemic is in our county. There are thousands of family members watching their loved ones slowly deteriorate from substance use disorder. Even more tragic are those families that lose loved ones to overdose. Embarrassed and ashamed because of the stigma that is attached to drug addiction, they are hiding in the shadows. Our local law enforcement agencies are seeing an increased number of overdose calls and want to help individuals with their disease, making the community safer and reducing crime. But arresting users and putting them into jails does not solve the problem. So what else can law enforcement do to help?

Project First Step is an initiative lead by Norwood Chief of Police James Wilson and Oakboro Chief of Police T. E. Smith and their community partners, it is modeled after the Hope Initiative developed by Thomas Bashore, Chief of Police in Nashville, NC. Project First Step is an initiative that seeks to take action by assisting those with a substance use disorder in taking that first step onto the path of recovery.

Chief James Wilson and Chief T. E. Smith invite local community leaders to participate in a county leadership seminar on Project First Step. Chief Thomas Bashore, of the Nashville Police Department will be the key note speaker at the seminar discussing the Hope Initiative and what it takes to get the program up and running. With the support of the local elected officials from our county, as well as leaders and representatives from key organizations, we can help the people of our community with substance use disorder take that first step.