Local, regional and state leaders will meet to discuss opioid crisis
Local, regional, and state leaders will meet Wednesday to discuss the opioid crisis in Missouri.
Leaders will meet at the Courtyard by Marriott, at 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., ABC 17 News will live stream the event.
The Missouri Opioid Summit is part of a series of local meetings being held throughout Missouri to address the opioid epidemic in a regional manner.
Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services are speaking with regional partners and stakeholders about the epidemic and how to make plans to address the crisis.
One out of every 66 deaths in 2016 were due to opioid or heroin overdose. In 2016, there were 908 opioid or-heroin-related deaths in the state; this is 35 percent increase over 2015.
Governor Eric Greitens signed into law this year several measures to fight against the opioid crisis.
The first order, states that anyone can receive naloxone (narcan) from a pharmacist without having to first get a prescription from another physician. The second was an expansion of Missouri’s “Good Samaritan” law. Under this law, anyone who acts in good faith to assist in a drug or alcohol overdose can call for emergency assistance without fear of arrest or other penalties. This would protect victims and the person seeking help from criminal charges. The third will allow people who have opioid addictions and are being treated with medication assisted therapy to access Missouri’s drug courts.
