In this week’s Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Nicole Miller, a certified drug and alcohol counselor and coach from Oregon who teaches addiction pharmacology at Portland Community College. Even though she’s very knowledgeable about all kinds of drugs, I brought her onto Safe Home Podcast to help us focus on fentanyl. It’s such a dangerous drug, and deaths from fentanyl poisoning have skyrocketed in just the last 2 or 3 years. Our family really wants to raise awareness about fentanyl, so Nicole will help us all understand the risks and what we can all do to prevent deaths caused by fentanyl.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Helanna Johnson, our life coach Heather Ross’s daughter who died in December 2021 from fentanyl poisoning.

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RESOURCES:

Nicole’s information:

• Email: [email protected]

Other resources about fentanyl:

• CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/fentanyl.html
• National Harm Reduction Coalition: https://harmreduction.org/issues/fentanyl/
• Fentanyl test strips from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/BTNX-Inc-Fentanyl-Liquid-Substances/dp/B09WWWDN21
• Narcan (available without a prescription at US pharmacies): https://www.narcan.com/

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Other Resources:

• Other Parents Like Me -  https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me
• Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/
• Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling

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www.SafeHomeFamilies.com

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TIME STAMPS:

2:08 Nicole’s personal journey with addiction and recovery

3:14 Safe Home lifts up harm reduction

4:40 What is fentanyl?

8:33 What forms does fentanyl come in? How does it get mixed in with other drugs?

9:55 Having Naloxone/Narcan available to save lives, but never use substances alone

10:45 Fentanyl test strips

13:20 How fentanyl makes people feel

14:30 The dangers of fentanyl with experimental use of substances

16:30 Beth’s challenges getting Narcan from the pharmacy

19:41 Encouraging our loved ones to carry Narcan with them

20:24 Meeting addicted people where they’re at; facing reality and encouraging harm reduction

23:51 How can Narcan - the Lazarus drug - works

27:12 Opiates, pain, and tolerance

28:50 How Medical Assisted Treatment (MAT) affects the rates of recovery

33:48 When to use Narcan, signs of an opiate overdose

36:35 Fentanyl could be in ANYTHING off the streets

38:02 How does Nicole stay grounded working in the addiction field

39:15 What Nicole’s recovery coaching looks like

40:50 All overdoses are accidental

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