Hammoud (L), Dingell (R) addressing community substance abuse at a town hall meeting in Dearborn – Photo by The AANews
DEARBORN — On Monday, May 8, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) and State Rep. Abdullah Hammoud (D-Dearborn) convened a town hall to address and discuss their approaches and strategies toward infrastructure development and substance abuse issues.
The event took place in the Michigan Room at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and included community leaders, students, concerned residents and activists, each invested in addressing problems of substance abuse and sharing concerns about health care and access.
The SAFE Coalition and the Detroit Department of Transportation co-hosted the event with the provision of resources and information regarding issues around infrastructural funding and support for municipal services.
The panel, intended to focus on the various issues, ended up largely discussing the impact of substance abuse in the community.
“In every town hall [you] can’t anticipate what there’s going to be,” said Dingell, noting that the “surprising” gravitation of the community forum towards mental health and substance abuse “shows you what a significant issue drug addiction is.”
In response to the inquiries and personal stories, which Dingell connected to her own personal experiences with a sister who battled drug addiction, she commended the community for having “discussed more about drug addiction than in any town hall.”
“We have to not demonize those with legitimate drug issues,” she said, adding that it was important to administer “legitimate uses” of certain drugs for medical purposes while focusing on the “opioid drug crisis in our communities.”
Recognizing that Dearborn is not immune or exempt from the heroin and opioid crisis that has plagued the U.S., notably the rust-belt Midwest, numerous Dearborn residents and community activists
called for approaches that are dialectic and rehabilitative rather than punitive and stigmatizing.
Hassan Abdullah, executive director of the newly formed SAFE Coalition, reiterated that addiction “is a disease and it’s important it be treated like one; both socially, medically and emotionally. Those are three important factors to address this issue.”
He reminded the audience that “there are people doing the work to help control this issue”, the problems of which he identified as exasperated from social pressures the community places on mental health issues and stigmas, taboos around illness and a lack of public spaces or forums for those affected to find solace in confiding in.
Likewise, Fairouz Bazzi, a nurse running for Dearborn City Council, reiterated that addiction “is a disease.” She urged audience members to seek help for their affected loved ones.
“There is a good amount of shame in being an addict,” she said, shifting the conversation from youth to focusing on the battles with addiction faced by older groups. “It’s…