By Kimberly Gasuras
CCN Reporter
BUCYRUS — Through a collaboration of several agencies, a coalition has been formed to address the drug problem in Crawford County.
Christi Eckert was chosen to lead the Drug-Free Crawford County Coalition.
“I was hired to help educate the community and to guide local drug and alcohol coalitions in Marion and Crawford counties,” Eckert said. “We are using a collective impact approach and want to involve people from 12 sectors of the community including law, youth, parents, healthcare, media, faith community, business, schools, youth serving, civic organizations and state and local officials.”
Eckert said the goal of the coalition is to engage community members in taking an active role in reducing substance abuse and its related problems in Crawford County and to create community-level change.
“These coalitions are so important as we continue to lose community members to drug and alcohol addiction,” Eckert said.
The group is taking a comprehensive look at the community with assistance from various sector members and developing a list of risk and protective factors to create a foundation for developing a strategic plan of action.
Some of the areas the group is focusing on include access and availability, perception of harm, lack of knowledge and cultural acceptance and status.
The four drugs identified by the group as problems in Crawford County are alcohol, opiates, nicotine and marijuana.
“We aim to be an action-based coalition and will continue to look at areas we have the ability to impact,” Eckert said. “This coalition is a collaborative effort of the Marion Crawford ADAMH Board, the Crawford Partnership and Marion-Crawford Prevention Programs.”