The Other Opioid Deliberation

I went to a deliberation the Friday before our deliberation on Saturday with a friend. It was also on the opioid crisis and I was hoping to get another perspective on the topic and also get some experience with how a deliberation is run before I did my own. It would also be useful to get some insight on my own

Their approaches were pretty similar to our own – their three topics were about big pharmaceutical companies, the lack of good healthcare, and the possibility of community awareness campaigns throughout America. One of the main differences between their topic and ours was our team’s focus on Centre County and its afflicted rural areas, while theirs took an general look at Americans as a whole.

Their approach one was definitely the most different from ours, as they reported that pharmaceuticals represented the bulk of American opiate addicts, while a couple of representatives at our deliberation said that a decrease in opiate prescriptions had already been implemented throughout America. Their deliberation then was directed down a path of figuring out how to limit the prescription of opiates. A interesting fact that came up was that doctors were worried about not prescribing opiates because patients would give them bad reviews and the hospital would get involved. That addition really changed the flow of the talk. One idea that came up during the discussion was the underprescription of opiates for surgeries, which was interesting.

Their second approach focused more on the healthcare side of the opioid crisis and did not include any mention of injection sites, so the overall conversation was much different. While our group mainly discussed the viability and usefulness of a safe injection center in Centre County, the deliberation I went to discussed the ways to help people access healthcare .

Their third approach was quite similar to ours in that they discussed the need for positive and effective education of the effects of opioids, especially when patients are prescribed them for a surgery. They also compared the anti-cigarette ads to what local communities and state governments could run for opioids.

Overall I thought that the discussion was pretty healthy – there were no heated words and no one took over the deliberation with constant opinions. Everyone was able to share their opinions for each approach. Although the talking was relatively  In general most of the people were in agreement about what we should do but weren’t sure how to approach the actual issue. We determined that the opioid crisis was a multifaceted problem that was caused by several systematic healthcare problems more than any problem in particular.

The conclusion was pretty good as well but because so many people answered each question we didn’t get through very many questions in the end.

The deliberation I attended was very helpful as it served as a precursor to me, and as a member of Team Summary and Outreach it gave me an idea of how to summarize a discussion in full. I’m glad that I went as it definitely prepared me for what was to come.