Carrying a message about drugs both professional and personal, the nation's top health official met with addicts in recovery during a visit to Florence.Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams was in Northern Kentucky to draw more attention to his advisory about naloxone, which he would like every citizen to carry. Commonly known as Narcan, it has been shown to save the lives of drug overdose victims. Melissa Beckett, of Fort Thomas, shared her story with Adams, who told her he was pulling for and praying for her son. At 23, she discovered his use of drugs, describing to us how the past three years have been, in her words, "hell on earth." She said her son had overdosed a half-dozen times. She is a strong supporter of the Surgeon General's call for the wide distribution of naloxone. Hard truths accompanied Adams as he made his rounds. Like others he met, conversed with and encouraged, he has skin in the game, as the saying goes. "My own brother is in state prison right now because of money he stole to support his addiction," he stated. "So, the Surgeon General of the United States has been through this personally." Adams wants it to be more personal for all of us, which is why he was part of demonstrating the ease with which one can administer naloxone. It brought Gerald Long back from the brink twice last year. He described a dead-end lifestyle of drugs and alcohol as a teenager in Price Hill and later in rural Pendleton County. Long told us he hit rock bottom in Falmouth, had been stabbed in the head while in Grant County during a dispute over drugs and started to turn his life around through faith in the Lord. He has been sober since last July and believes the Surgeon General's approach to the drug problem is a good one. Adams said "I get the frustration," referring to a commonly-held belief that there's no point in trying to revive addicts on an open-ended basis. Asked what he would say to those who maintain his approach is one of an enabler, he responded people should think about how he is enabling recovery. Anyone with access to commercial insurance can obtain naloxone at no cost, according to Adams. He described the lingering stigma of addiction as a major problem in the opioid crisis. Adams asked that addiction be regarded as a disease instead of a moral failure. Jody Jaggers of the Kentucky Pharmacists Association demonstrated how to use the naloxone medication to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. "If you've ever used any kind of a nasal spray, it's that easy," said Jaggers. "There's no syringes or nothin' to fiddle with, so it's not intimidating." The reality of the opioid crisis is that there's no bridge to recovery without first saving lives. Four folks today related to Adams how they were each resuscitated multiple times with naloxone. "The people that say it won't happen to me are living in a fantasy-type world," said Beckett, candidly adding, "You know, I didn't think it would ever happen to me." Moving away from stigma and towards solution is part of what Adams is promoting in his message and advisory. He mentioned Trump's administration has committed $6 billion to respond to the opioid crisis in America. He encouraged people to connect with their own state's website to find more information about addiction and how everyone can play a part in the recovery effort. The website findhelpnowky.org has information about available beds in treatment programs. Adams stressed the need for more conversation in the country about infectious diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV as components to the crisis. He referred encouragingly to the 50 syringe service programs that exist in the state of Kentucky. He believes the nation needs to move with more effectiveness to prevention and the root causes of self-destructive drug use. "Deal with adverse childhood experiences," he advised. "Deal with mental health issues." From childhood up through his teenage years and as a young man, Long never felt he fit in. He turned to alcohol and drugs, lost his son in the process and wandered homeless along the streets of Falmouth until he discovered a reason to try detox and stick with it. He pulled at the T-shirt he wore, reading "You may not like me, but Jesus thinks I'm to die for." He has been clean since July. He's finally found a way to feel that he fits in. "For my son," he said with a sense of a confidence he once did not possess. "He's definitely my motivating factor." If not for trying to get his life back so he could be a dad, he shudders to think how he might have ended up.