Organizations awarded opioid settlement funds for prevention efforts in Greenville, South Carolina
September 28, 2023
The POWER Collective, in partnership with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, RIZE Prevention, Inc., Just Say Something and Safe Rx, will implement a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to combating the opioid crisis in Greenville County.
A Greenville-based prevention coalition, POWER Collective, announced it was awarded $814,915.00 in opioid settlement funds by the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund Board, signaling one of the first state-specific payouts. The POWER Collective: Community Action for Opioid Addiction and Overdose Prevention is a comprehensive community initiative comprised of four organizations working together to combat the opioid crisis in Greenville County.
The POWER Collective, a partnership comprised of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, RIZE Prevention Inc., a non-profit delivering an innovative school-based drug prevention and early intervention program; Just Say Something, a tobacco, drug and alcohol prevention organization; and Safe Rx, a company on a mission to combat the opioid crisis with its award-winning locking prescription vials.
Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis stated: “The POWER Collective is such an important partnership in our fight to combat opioid addiction. It is so essential to partner with those who have the same mission in helping those get off these dangerous drugs by providing resources and educational opportunities to see the process through. We are incredibly thankful for this collaborative effort and look forward to seeing the benefits of this partnership in the near future.
The POWER Collective will provide education, awareness, prevention, and intervention related to opioid and other gateway drug use to organizations, like churches, schools, and businesses. It will implement evidence-informed prevention strategies, such as reduced social access and physical access, stigma reduction, educational campaigns, support for people in treatment or recovery, and training of coalitions in evidence-informed implementation, including by following the Strategic Prevention Framework developed by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The funds will be used beginning December 2023.
The opioid settlement funds granted to the POWER Collective come at a pivotal time for Greenville County, which ranked eighth in the state for opioid-involved overdose deaths, according to this study https://rb.gy/bl3f3
Phillip Clark, Executive Director of Just Say Something stated “We are thrilled this initiative will happen. Our goal is to educate and prevent these unnecessary deaths. We have a multi-prong, multi-year approach ready to go.”
According to the Greenville County Coroner’s Office, 78% of Greenville County overdoses involved opioids in 2020.
As part of the program, the POWER Collective will distribute Safe Rx Locking Prescription Vials (LPVs) to pharmacies and households across Greenville County. Safe Rx LPVs are a clinically proven intervention used in both prevention and treatment.
“We’re proud to be a part of the POWER Collective and have our LPVs make an impact for Greenville County,” said Milton Cohen, President, and CEO of Safe Rx.
“The opioid/fentanyl crisis is the most challenging and unforgiving crisis our community has ever faced. We will start finding our way out of it only when prevention and treatment receive equal attention and investment. RIZE is proud to be a part of the POWER Collective in Greenville County, which is focused on saving lives and finally turning the tide on this devastating epidemic!”, stated RIZE Executive Director Martine Helou-Allen.
A website will be launched soon for more information on the POWER Collective and the comprehensive, evidence-based approach to combatting the opioid crisis and reducing the rate of addiction and overdoses in Greenville County. www.POWERCollectiveGVL.com
About Greenville County Sheriff’s Office
The mission of the Greenville County Sherriff’s Office is to serve as guardians to the citizens and visitors of our county, preserve life, maintain constitutional rights, protect property, and promote individual responsibility and community engagement.
About RIZE Prevention
RIZE Prevention offers innovative, evidence-based prevention and early intervention programs as a solution to the rising tide of addiction that is compromising the quality of life of our youth and their families today. Our mission is to empower teens to resist drug use and make healthy lifestyle choices.
About Just Say Something
Just Say Something is a non-profit, 501(c)3 community organization founded in 1984 whose mission is to encourage youth, parents, and communities to have open, honest, and ongoing conversations about alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and other risky behavior. For more information, call 864.467.4099 or visit our website at https://justsaysomethingsc.org.
About Safe Rx and Caring Closures International
Caring Closures International (CCI) is transforming public health and consumer product safety with patented innovation, modernizing one of the most successful interventions in public health history. CCI’s initial Safe Rx® line of locking prescription vials (LPVs® Ultimately, CCI’s-For more information, please visit www.safe-rx.com.
