Man uses past with opioid use to give those struggling a ‘fresh start’

By David Amelotti

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    ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — Grassroot efforts and the City of St. Louis Health Department are working to reduce and eliminate the disparity among black men in St. Louis when it comes to the opioid epidemic.

According to Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo-Davis, director of health for St. Louis City, and the non-profit PreventED, fatal opioid overdoses among black men in St. Louis increased by 500 percent in the last five years.

“It’s unacceptable,” Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo-Davis shared. “It’s disproportionately affecting the black and brown neighborhoods which is a copy and paste of Covid and Monkeypox. This is an actual crisis.”

The intersection of Grand and Cass in north St. Louis re-ignites painful memories for Gerald Watson. It’s where he would sell and use opioids.

“[I felt] hopelessness, no tomorrow,” Watson explained. “Guilt and shame. I felt so much guilt and shame.”

Watson said he is 20 years sober as of May. He said he has no desire to go back.

“I have over 40 years in substance issues, back then we called it addiction – I was a cokehead,” Watson shared. “Today we use different language to soften the blow, be less harsh on those using.”

He said black men in St. Louis are the most vulnerable to opioid use because of how easily accessible the drugs are in the area.

“When you’re that sick, and you got to have it,” Watson shared. “You’ll do whatever you can do get it and that’s why a lot of people are dying.”

He said the lack of good jobs and education and poor parenting leaves these men stranded since they don’t have the ability or the knowledge to make a better future for themselves.

“God came down and lifted me up. I told him if you save me, I’ll save the next person. As strong as I was on the streets, I’ll do that trying to save someone else,” Watson said.

Watson now leads the nonprofit Fresh Start Community Coalition as program coordinator.

The group provides programs helping those struggling with substance misuse and violence in North City.

“We can teach them job skills, teach them life skills, it’s going to be that on a consistent basis to turn this around,” Watson said.

“It means the world to me,” Thomastine Richardson said.

Richardson, a mother, said she just graduated from Watson’s four-week parenting class. She enrolled because she said her parents didn’t set the best example.

“Especially in the African American community there are a lot of broken homes,” Richardson explained. “So when you give them tools and a different mindset on how to do something, it helps them to become better.

Richardson also has a past with substance use. In 2014, she attempted suicide by intentionally overdosing.

“I took prescriptions they gave me, Adderall, Ritalin, anything they gave me and I just abused it,” Richardson said.

The mother of four said she’s glad she failed.

“I’m very honest with them because the type of the world we’re living in you have to be honest with kids, you can’t sugarcoat it,” Richardson said.

“I’m glad that she was open and honest and don’t mind sharing because that’s how people are helped,” Watson said. “If you keep it to yourself, you can’t help nobody.”

Funding is a real threat to Fresh Start’s future. The nonprofit may have to eliminate its daycare service if staff can’t secure donations or grant dollars.

For anyone wanting to learn more about Fresh Start Community Coalition, click here to head to the group’s website.

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