There are many stigmas around addiction.
The most harmful one, though, may be that addiction is a moral failure. That succumbing to the siren’s call of drugs or alcohol is a testament to one’s character. That being an addict makes you a bad person.
But people with substance use disorder are not bad people. Granted, some do bad things (and some more often than others), but the mere fact that someone is battling addiction does not mean they aren’t a good person.
Lauren Cole is the perfect example.
Lauren received her bachelor’s in social work from WVU. She had a heart of gold, and her specialty was in helping recovering addicts. She was working on her master’s when she relapsed and overdosed on fentanyl in 2020 at age 26.
Her addiction was not a moral failure. She was not a bad person. And neither are most people fighting substance use disorder. We, as a society, too often forget that, which makes our interactions with them wary, if not hostile. And that is not what people seeking sobriety need from us and their communities.
Just weeks before her death, Lauren asked her father, Michael Cole, if he thought that someday, when he retired, he might help her in her quest to make sure people fighting substance use disorder have access to resources and support systems. In his own words, “And I said ‘Yeah, yes I will.’ ”
Cole has fulfilled his promise, naming his nonprofit “Lauren’s Wish.” Located in Hazel’s House of Hope, Lauren’s Wish provides an often overlooked service: Giving people a place to stay after they’ve been discharged from the hospital following an overdose, so they don’t have to go back to the same environment that caused or contributed to their substance abuse. It’s a stepping stone, or a safe haven, on their way to rehab.
The longer someone has to wait to get into rehab, the more likely they are to back out of treatment. Studies from 2008 and 2012 showed only 11% of addicts get treatment, and many who don’t cited access to rehab programs as a barrier. Of people who sign up for a rehab’s wait list, most will wait a month before giving up and about 40% will drop their names from the list after two weeks.
A 2020 study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment found wait times had a huge impact on whether someone follows through with treatment. Of 308 participants that scheduled for same day appointments at a low-barrier addiction clinic, 252 (82%) were seen by clinic staff (read: stuck around for their appointments). Of the 151 who were told to come back the next day, about half did, and of the 198 who had to wait two or more days, only 39% came back to be seen by the clinic’s staff.
When Lauren told her father that too many people seeking sobriety didn’t have the resources and support to follow through, she hit the proverbial nail on the head. There’s a fairly small window when people with substance use disorder are ready for help, and Lauren’s Wish finds people in that window and gives them those resources and that support they need to make it on to rehab.
We’re sorry it took the tragedy of a young woman’s death, but we’re glad Morgantown is home to Lauren’s Wish and her legacy.
