“We have to approach it with love”

(NewsNation) — Cammie Wolf Rice lost her 32-year-old son, Christopher, to an overdose in 2016.

His addiction quickly escalated from prescription painkillers to heroin. In her son’s name, Rice founded the Christopher Wolf Crusade Foundation, which employs specialists to help families manage pain.

“We know so much more about addiction. Recovery is real. It’s possible,” Rice said during an appearance Friday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “We have counselors for everything except health crises. The answer isn’t always in a pill.”

Rice said it took her two years to admit her son had overdosed and she wished he had had an “honorable death.”

“As a country, we need to address this issue and show love and solidarity instead of hiding it,” Rice said. “We need to break the stigma.”

Rice’s goal is to use her foundation to connect pain specialists with families in every hospital in the world.

“When young people have a sports injury or a car accident, this is their first exposure to opioids,” Rice said. “It’s important to have a coach there to talk to you about the dangers, how to reduce your dose if you need to take opioids, and, most importantly, to offer other pain management solutions that are non-narcotic.”