Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss the relationship between substance abuse and human trafficking. They also talk about drug use among youths and the best way to prevent. They wrap up by discussing the 2018 Ensure Justice conference and explain its focus on preventing substance abuse.
Key Points

Overdoses have surpassed car crashes as the main cause of death among young people.
The number-one cause of child abuse is a family member with a substance abuse issue.
People use drugs to self-medicate for pain in their lives.
The earlier kids start trying drugs, the more likely they are to develop an addiction.
It’s important to train health-care providers how to spot human trafficking victims because 87% of trafficking victims had been seen by a provider.
Prevention is best done through peer-led education.

Resources

www.terminandoconlatrata.org
Ensure Justice 2018
Live2Free

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Transcript
Dave: [00:00:00] You're listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 165, The Intersection of Substance Abuse and Human Trafficking.

Production Credits: [00:00:09] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.

Dave: [00:00:29] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: [00:00:34] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave: [00:00:37] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, so many of us have been hearing about substance abuse, and so many of the issues here within the states and within North America around substance abuse. And there's just so many ways this plays out in our society right now. And of course, I guess I shouldn't say of course but I don't think it's going to be a surprise, that there's a link to human trafficking as well too. And I think we're going to spend some time really exploring that in today’s conversation.

Sandie: [00:01:11] So the intersection between substance abuse and human trafficking is becoming a highly discussed topic now. With the media attention to the opioid crisis, we know that overdose as a cause of death has overtaken car crashes for young people. And that was a huge transition last year when the 2016 stats came in. And now we begin to see how it plays out in so many other areas. For me personally, it became a huge commitment to start planning Ensure Justice 2018. Back in January 2017, I was in the Orange County We Can Coalition meeting, and Dr. Anne Light read some information that they had pulled from some of their strategic planning as they reviewed what were the risk factors for child abuse in Orange County. And the number one thing they identified is a family member with an addiction, with a substance abuse issue. And for me that was like click, dominoes Falling. Because it's kind of like reading a book where you get to a page and if you choose this page then you go on and you see the next part of the story or if you go over here you'll see this and this. And so, when she said that because in the We Can coalition we're trying to work to end child abuse and neglect. And those of you who have been listening for a long time to Ending Human Trafficking, you know that prevention of child abuse is a huge piece of ending the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Because if a child is abused, if a child is neglected there are so many repercussions. And we see then that they become more vulnerable to being recruited. They become more likely to run away from the violence or they're taken out of the home for a very good r...