Sen. Marco Rubio joins Liberty-sponsored opioid crisis town hall in West Palm Beach

As the nation battles one of the deadliest health crises in its history, opioid abuse and addiction, Liberty University continues to join the fight, partnering to present another town hall in a national series aimed at educating communities. Wednesday night’s town hall aired live from West Palm Beach, Fla., and included special guests from the law enforcement and medical community, as well as interviews with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida State Attorney Dave Aronberg (Palm Beach County), filmmaker Jim Wahlberg, and Rick Amato (’87, ’15), a Liberty alumnus who has suffered from drug addiction and now ministers to others.

Since November, Liberty University has been directly involved in a series of televised town halls across the country shining a light on opioid abuse and addiction. The event, “Your Voice. Your Future. Opioids: A National Crisis,” was moderated by former Fox News reporter Eric Bolling and is one of 14 town halls that have been planned through April and are being aired on TV stations throughout the country. Bolling’s son, Eric Chase, died after an accidental opioids overdose in 2017. Bolling is partnering with Sinclair Broadcast Group to join the forces who are fighting the epidemic and to create awareness and lower the stigma of opioids abuse. More than 300,000 Americans have died from overdoses involving opioids since 2000.

Bolling kicked off the first town hall at Liberty on Nov. 28, featuring First Lady Melania Trump, who has made the prevention of opioids-related deaths a main pillar of her BE BEST initiative. Liberty President Jerry Falwell and his wife, Becki, took part in the first town hall, as well as town halls in Charleston, S.C., on Feb. 19 and in Las Vegas (also featuring the first lady) on March 6. Liberty School of Business Dean Dr. Dave Brat, a former U.S. congressman who worked on legislation to combat the crisis, participated in the March 14 town hall in Baltimore.

Wednesday’s event kicked off with Rubio’s comments, in which the Florida senator discussed the various sources of lethal narcotics coming from across the border — through Mexico by land, by sea from China, and even by air through the mail.

“We most certainly have to attack the source of it,” Rubio said. “But we also have to help provide more treatment options for people. This is a chronic and severe condition; if someone does not get medically-supervised treatment, they will not overcome an opioid addiction.”

Bolling and Aronberg discussed ways to hold pharmaceutical companies and dealers accountable through lawsuits and legislation while seeking to protect the lives of users who are exploited by them.

Whalberg, a recovering addict himself, talked about his film, “If Only,” which he shows to communities across the country as a way to start conversations and reduce the stigma around drug addiction. He stressed the importance of parents warning their children about the dangers of drugs as early as first grade.

“Communication is the key; you’ve got to talk to your kids,” Wahlberg said. “The kids, in a lot of cases, are more inclined to want to have the conversation than a lot of the parents that we come across. … Talk to them about the [reality]: people are dying at an alarming rate — and they are younger and younger.”

Amato pulled from personal experience, as well as his studies in addiction counseling at Liberty, to emphasize that addiction is a brain disease. He said that removing the societal stigma for receiving treatment, just like cancer patients aren’t stigmatized for seeking treatment, is a key. And for those of us with loved ones who might be struggling, the most loving thing we can do, Amato said, is to “speak with truth and listen with empathy.”

“If you or someone you love is an addict, there are two words more important than any other word: ‘get help,’” Amato said. “No one can do it alone.”

Liberty will be the sponsor for another town hall on April 16 in Little Rock, Ark.

To receive help for an addiction, call the National Opioid Addiction Center at (800) 662-4357.