Information: United2Fight’s podcast series highlights the work of key figures in the fight against opioid use and major activists in combating the opioid epidemic.
Mission Statement: United2Fight works to help rebuild communities facing rampant opioid addictions, through education tools, strengthening public health infrastructure in needy areas, reaching out to marginalized communities, and galvanizing widespread support to help end this epidemic.
Introduction: My name is Saanvi Mittal, founder and president of United2Fight – a non-profit organization based in Richmond, VA. I’ve started this podcast series to highlight the work of key figures in the fight against opioid use and major activists in combating the opioid epidemic.
Today’s discussion features Sheriff Alisa Gregory. She leads the teams at the Henrico County Sheriff’s Office and has worked for the Sheriff’s Office for 21 years. Col. Alisa A. Gregory became the first woman and first African-American sheriff in Henrico
Saanvi: Welcome Sheriff Gregory
(response) Thank you for having me on the show.
Saanvi: Thank you for joining us today. I’d love to start our conversation with you more about you and how you got into this line of work. Tell us a bit more about your background.
I've been with the County Sheriff's office since 1998, I came here as a deputy. I tell people often that I was just looking for a job that would allow me to have some weekends off because I had young kids. So, a member of my church suggested like you should be a deputy. You would make a good deputy. You know, I originally worked with the youth in the church, so I applied and it was like the first time I walked into jail.
I knew that this is where I wanted to work because even as a deputy, you have the ability to help people, sometimes just by listening. I am a service-oriented person, and my greatest fulfillment comes from helping and doing for others. I have been here for, in September it be 22 years and I have held every position from the deputy to the chief, to the deputy under the sheriff, and now elected as sheriff.
Wow. Congrats. That's so awesome. I loved hearing your story. So my next question goes into more of like the opioid epidemic. So like as a sheriff of like Henrico County, why do you think opioid addiction is so prevalent in jails and which groups are most impacted?
Okay. Well, I think first and foremost, we have to realize that we have always had an addiction problem, from alcohol to other types of illegal and legal substances. But I think, we have come to the point that we are now with this being considered an epidemic because it is so wild, you know, being in a jail, it used to be, there was a certain demographic or population that you saw that was struggling with addiction. And usually, folks that were poverty-stricken and it highly affected persons of color. However, now you are seeing all walks of life, men, women that are being impacted by the opioid addiction. I can't say. What exactly is the driver? I can give my opinion. And in my opinion, I think the widespread prescribing of painkillers may have driven us to the point where that, and as we evolve and we become more knowledgeable of the effects of some of these drugs that were put out on the market.
I think we are making a conscious effort to change prescribing methods and further control substances. But the thing is, we are now left with dealing with the backlash of all of those people before that are now addicted and need to find a way to gain control back over their lives.
You touched on this in your last answer, but as you mentioned, you've been in the deputy's office for like over 20 years. How do you think the epidemic has changed over the years? And why do you think it's gotten worse?
I think it has gotten worse. So like I previously stated, the impact is so widespread. You know, no age group is exempt. No racial group is exempt. No socioeconomic status is exempt. Anybody can become addicted. And the thing is, you don't know who gets addicted. Why can I take a pain pill and not get addicted, but someone else can? I have family members that have that struggle and have lost the struggle for addiction. When they took the pills, they couldn't stop.
You know, I don't think anyone quite knows. Anyone can have it. For every person it can be a different outcome, you know, it's the same thing with alcohol. Why can one person take a drink and not take another drink? And then another person picks up a drink and then they can't stop, you know? What's the cost.
We have not been able to get to what the root cause is of addiction. What I tell people, I always equate it to, you know, I struggle with my weight. It is the truth, and I'm always trying to make a conscious effort to eat right and find time to exercise. But yeah, I have a weakness for sweets. So what is it in me that knowing the way about proper weight, I should be what I should eat to make me feel well and be healthy that I just can't, I can't pass a piece of cheese cheesecake, you know?
That is so inspiring you talking about that because like, I feel like nobody can control, like what happens to them, you know? So my next question is what issues have you experienced, like in your workplace with like opioid issues and drug prescriptions and how did you tackle those issues?
So that's an ongoing issue and the problem that we are continuing to working on. In our jail here, a survey was conducted some years ago. Approximately at least I would say 80% of the folks that find themselves incarcerated are struggling with some sort of addiction, whether it's opioid alcohol, benzos, they are struggling with some form of addiction. And then you couple that with the folks that are dealing with mental health issues, that are struggling with critical, critical health issues, that combination makes the struggle increase for these people every day. So. How do you tackle it? How do you distinguish between someone that broke the law versus someone that is struggling with making a decision based on their addiction and their need to feed their addiction, you know?
Yeah. That's really tough because, you know, you can't really like distinguish the difference.
Right. Right, right. And the law has not distinguished the difference. So they all ended up being here in jail. So how do we structure our system and the resources that we provide to be able to address those needs? So that's what we deal with every day. We deal with, how do we take the population that we have and address the deficiencies in whether it's with their dealing with their addiction, whether they're struggling with diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health issues and those that are dealing with critical health issues.
So, our former sheriff, Mike Wade, developed some drug education programs, now 20, 21 plus years ago, called rise and that is an addiction recovery program. That has given a lot of people a tool to utilize, to be able to address the behaviors that stem from their addiction and, and trying to give them the tools to cope and be able to get some control back over their lives.
Since the creation of that program, we've added to it and expanded it. And now we have incorporated ORBID which is opioid recovery by intensive tracking. This allows them to do the rise program coupled with taking part in the community workforce, which helps build some of some folks who have not developed a work ethic. So we try to and help them build upon that as well as taking care of their mental and physical health.
Yeah, those are amazing programs. I never even knew we had those in Henrico County, but that's so awesome. Like first, do you have like drug rehab rehabilitation? And then after that, like they can do community service work?
Yeah. And then they can meet with which our ultimate goal is to have them obtain gainful employment, you know, pay their court fines, reconnect to their family and be able to be back in the community and be as productive as possible. It gives them maybe a fair shot at not returning, you know, and that's the ultimate goal to put, to put their life back on track so that they don't return to jail.
Following up on that, like what would be a suggestion you would have like, as sheriff for like improving drug usage and like opioid addiction, like in all jails, like how would you like suggest like we like to help people or like control them?
Well, I think the key is evaluating your population. , and like, while we have structured programs, we also have, folks that work with people. Individual one-on-one is so important because what may work for one may not work for another. We're also looking at introducing a MAT program, which is a Medical Assisted Treatment program. Yes. So I think that will help. Looking at the population that we have, that is something that is needed. And I think if we can provide that structure while we have a program and they choose to utilize, I think that's another key to helping them be successful when they return to the community. So I say know the needs of your population, assess what the needs are, and try to develop a bridge and the resources to address those needs.
Do you feel like individually helping people is so much more beneficial because like everyone's circumstances are different?
Yes, yes, yes. That's the key right there. You know, addressing the individual, because like I said, I was never a fan of, unfortunately, I'll be honest. I was never a fan of MAT until I saw it in action. The need and the feedback from individuals in the community show that there have reaped the benefits from it. So actually seeing the results and seeing it work changed my point of view. And I think that we will have even more success with different individuals with the addition of this program.
One of my final questions for you is since you've seen it firsthand, like, what do you think a community can do to help people like suffering from addiction?
Like what do you think we can do to make it better? I think we can do the same thing. I think we can, because I was just in a meeting with one of the agency heads this morning, talking about how in order for us to truly have sustainable change. Combating this epidemic, we are going to have to pull every resource we have available that's in the community. That is the faith-based community. That's our recovery groups in the community, social services. That's all the programs that we have government wise that can address needs or deficiencies. We're all going to have to work together and pull together to create individualized plans, to help people regain control over their lives.
We have to work together and I'm to the point where anybody that has a resource that will benefit someone that finds themselves incarcerated. I would prefer that we be able to help people in the community versus waiting until we have them inside a correctional or jail facility, but I know it's going to take some time for us to get, but that my ultimate goal. A goal would be able to develop the same types of plans and programs that we have inside the jail in the community and make them available to folks before they find themselves doing things or to break the law or, or, you know, to, to support their addiction and winding up in jail. I'd rather help them before they got to that point in their lives.
Finally, is there anything else you want to share with us about the future of the epidemic or any opinions you have?
Well, I, as I said before, it is, there's no one fix-all because they're all types of individuals with different types of circumstances and issues. So it is going to take a joint effort is going to need partnering with everybody that's willing to do something or address this issue for individuals. And I think that's the way we really produce sustainable change and we take care of our community and help become strong enough to battle the behaviors that result from their addiction and they can get on track that way though. We need to pull in those resources. There are some people like I said, that need the MAT program, you know, to be able to get that control where they can then start putting the pieces back together. We need every resource available to help every individual.
So we're all going to have to learn how to work together. And it's going to take working differently than we've worked in the past because, some of the things that we've tried in the past, haven't worked. So we're going to have to think outside of the box and become creative with ways that, uh, initiatives to be able to address this. And I think we are moving in the right direction. We all really need to talk about it and honestly talk about it.
Alright. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me today. I know you're super busy. So I really appreciate it, I can't thank you enough.
Well, thank you. And thank you for your organization. I did not know about your organization and I'm so excited to know that not only young people getting involved and becoming connected to the needs of the community, that's truly how we are going to make a change. So thank you and thank you to the folks in your organization.
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