The Southeast Missouri Drug Free Communities Coalition held their second annual P.E.E.P.S conference Monday at the Miner Baptist Church in Sikeston. P.E.E.P.S stands for “Prevention Education Empowers People.” It was attended by southeast Missouri social workers, rehabilitation professionals and outreach ministers.
Conference attendees learned about opium, heroin and synthetic drugs, and human trafficking. They also learned tips from health educators on adolescent drug use. Keynote speaker Terri Patterson is the director and owner of A Horizon of Hope Counseling Agency in Farmington. Her organization focuses on mental and substance abuse counseling.
“I would just like for people to realize that it doesn’t matter where you live,” Patterson said. “There is someone near you that is under the influence, and it’s time society as a whole realize that and step up to provide treatment and to assist people instead of just thinking it will go away.”
Patterson herself was once involved in substance abuse and is now an addiction survivor.
“Well, I used for over 30 years and had a 5 year old granddaughter that I didn’t think knew anything about addiction and one day told me that she wished I would go home, smoke something, and get in a better mood. And that was the first time I’d ever seen myself as an addict,” Patterson said.
Patterson said much of her family and her husband’s family have had problems with different types of addiction and substance abuse. She uses her experiences to help others understand addiction and the characteristics of it as a disease.
Attendees also learned about prevalent drugs in Southeast Missouri. Mike Alford, an officer with the SEMO Drug Task Force, says the abuse of prescription medication and the use of certain methamphetamines continue to rise.
