A direct look at a crisis in our midst

Shouting to a deaf person isn't the best way to be heard, we're told. When trying to be understood by someone whose hearing is impaired, experts say that a better strategy is to look directly to the person and speak as clearly and distinctly as possible.

As an analogy, that came to mind this week as the Times Union joined other community institutions in launching an initiative to combat the opioid abuse epidemic that is ravaging so many families. We've heard plenty of shouting about the danger of opioids for several years now, but perhaps we can do better with a clear and distinct message delivered directly to our community. That's our intent.

If you missed the announcement Thursday, it's this: A small group of community leaders has come together for some initial conversations on the opioid crisis, and they hope it will lead to a broad initiative including hundreds or even thousands of Capital Region residents, united against opioid addiction. The group has adopted the name "Prescription for Progress," a phrasing that conveys a certain optimism - not that anybody here is going to solve the opioid problem, but that we're going to make some headway, right here in our neighborhoods.

The facts are clear to anybody who has been paying attention, but the numbers bear repeating: More than two million Americans have become dependent on heroin, prescription opioids and synthetic fentanyl. It is a devastating addiction, far more deadly than what we have experienced with other drug scourges. More American citizens lost their lives to a drug overdose just last year than the number of U.S. soldiers killed during the entire course of the Vietnam War.

Opioids have torn apart families. They have reduced productivity in offices and factories. Profits from illicit sales have empowered destructive elements in cities, suburbs and the countryside.

And aside from the awful human toll, there's a financial cost to the country, too. Near the end of last year, the Council of Economic Advisers released a study finding that the opioid crisis cost the U.S. economy $5.4 billion in 2015, the last year for which full data was available - which is about 2.8 percent of gross domestic product.

Just imagine if all that money could have been put to productive use. And imagine if all those lives lost or wrecked by this drug scourge could have been saved - how much richer our lives would be absent all this pain.

But here's what all those big numbers don't tell you: This crisis is swirling all around each of you reading this. Over the next few weeks, Prescription for Progress will release results of a Siena College poll showing the impact of the opioid problem in New York state and in the Capital Region. My early view of the numbers enables me to tell you this: Chances are very good that you know someone touched by this problem.

If you think you haven't seen the opioid crisis up close, count yourself extraordinarily lucky; if you have, I can only offer my sorrow for your inevitable heartbreak.

It is against this backdrop that the publisher of the Times Union, George R. Hearst III, called together a group of community leaders some weeks ago to discuss what options may lie before us. While this began as an initiative in the offices of the Times Union, it can only be effective if it spreads much more widely.

So the data from the Siena poll will be available without charge to every media outlet in the state as it is released in the coming weeks, and we will share with members of the consortium the material that has been created to support the initiative (including cool branding created by The Martin Group).

Our role, George Hearst has made clear, is to convene the community conversation and use the power of our platform - in print, digitally and in live events that we can stage - to spread information on the problem and on steps toward a solution.

To those of us who have witnessed this emerging crisis, some notions seem clear: Too few treatment beds are available, for one. For another, too many pharmaceutical companies and medical professionals haven't yet stepped forward to do what they can to reduce the over-prescription of addictive painkillers.

And this, tragically: Too many families aren't aware enough of this threat, so they aren't reaching out preemptively to help loved ones at risk. For families who are engaged in the struggle, too little real help is available.

We hope that Prescription for Progress can begin to change these realities. At the Times Union, we see this as part of our fundamental responsibility to share a true picture of what is happening in our community. No shouting - just what we hope will be a clear and distinct view of what's true. Please hear us.

Rex Smith is editor of the Times Union. Share your thoughts at http://timesunion.com/rex_smith.