Prattville to host Alabama Opioid Prevention Summit June 5

Alabama will bring its opioid-prevention training to Prattville on June 5, putting the focus on how local providers, administrators and community partners can build programs that last as overdose response money continues to flow into the state. The Alabama Opioid Prevention Summit is set for 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Marriott at Capitol Hill, with registration open for $15 and the Prattville session listed as in-person only.

The summit is aimed at the practical side of prevention, not just awareness. Organizers say the training will center on sustainable opioid prevention programming, including grant writing, outcome evaluation and program marketing, three areas that often determine whether a local effort can grow beyond a short-term campaign. A separate Birmingham summit is scheduled for June 3 and includes a virtual option, but the Prattville event will be held face to face.

The timing reflects the policy pressure surrounding Alabama’s opioid response. Governor Kay Ivey established the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council on August 8, 2017, and the council’s co-chairs are the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, the state health officer and the state attorney general. As the state continues planning how to use roughly $278 million expected from opioid settlements over time, the summit gives agencies and community organizations a place to focus on how those dollars can translate into measurable prevention work.

The Alabama Department of Mental Health says it serves more than 155,000 Alabama citizens with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and substance use disorders, a reminder that opioid misuse is part of a much broader behavioral health system stretched across the state. ADMH has also expanded prevention work through statewide opioid prevention grant efforts and the H.O.P.E. campaign, which stands for Hold On, Pain Ends.

For Prattville and surrounding communities, the summit is a sign that the opioid crisis is being treated as both a public safety issue and a public health obligation. The challenge now is not only stopping overdoses, but making sure that settlement dollars, training and local partnerships produce programs that can keep working long after the conference ends.