Leaders and Doctors working to combat opioid crisis

SOUTH BEND, Ind – Leaders and Doctors gathered Thursday to brainstorm ideas to combat the opioid crisis.

Thursday’s meeting comes a day after President Trump signed legislation named in part by Michiana Dr. Todd Graham who was murdered when he refused to write an opioid prescription.

“It’s not just a medical issue, it’s not just a law enforcement issue, it’s a social work issue, it’s a front line response issue,” Congresswoman Jackie Walorski said.

Pain management Doctor Kevin Drew, and St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter formed the “Physician Consortium on Opioid Treatment,” also known as PCOT to figure out how to provide quality medical treatment while lowering opioid use.

“We had an opportunity to chat with along with listen to Congresswoman Walorski tell us what she’s doing on the federal level to impact what’s going on here locally,” pain management Dr. Kevin Drew said.

Some of the ideas and solutions spoken about included prescribing non-opioid pain management and giving providers incentives to do so and funding law enforcement's effort to stop the trafficking of opioids.

The discussion at Thursday’s meeting is ongoing and the group plans to keep an open dialogue on way to continue attacking the issue.