Along With Sticky Buns, New Coffee Shop Serves Up 'Hope' For Opioid Addiction Recovery
STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) — As politicians and health administrators try to find solutions to curb the deadly opioid crisis nationwide, one small-town coffee shop owner is trying to help addicts by destigmatizing their condition in a friendly setting.
Hope & Coffee in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania — about 85 miles outside Philadelphia — began serving customers Thursday in the former coal town of about 7,000 people, the Associated Press reported.
According to the coffee shop's website, business owner Lisa Scheller grew up in Tamaqua and is successfully fighting her own addiction. The cafe is a joint project with the nonprofit Tamaqua Area Community Partnership.
"Our country is going through an opioid epidemic, and this town where I grew up has seen addiction rise to more than double the national average," Scheller said in a May speech.
"Her experience with opioid addiction and recovery had put her on a path to help normalize recovery and help those struggling to recover here," the site reads.
Café supervisor Sica Brown told the AP she was addicted to heroin for years and that the Hope & Coffee is "an absolute life changer."
Apparently, their sticky buns can also alter the track of your life.
According to the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health, the opioid epidemic is the state's worst health crisis.