Sen. Klobuchar Concerned Over Minnesota Opioid and Heroin Crisis
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar continues to take on the current prescription opioid and heroin crisis.
Klobuchar attended a roundtable in Moorhead and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
In the last several weeks, at least eight people have died of heroin abuse in northern Minnesota.
Moorhead law enforcement, community leaders and Minnesota families touched by addiction were all in attendance to learn more about Senator Klobuchar’s Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.
“We consider this a crisis, especially in rural America,” said Klobuchar.
The bipartisan bill that was passed by the U.S. Senate will help states with the necessary resources needed to fight prescription drug addiction, which she says ultimately leads to heroin addiction.
“These opioids are just another form of heroin that people have legit pain issues, but are getting prescribed multiple pills, when they need just 3 or 4, but they’re getting 30,” said Klobuchar.
The bill will also help iron out insurance, county and state funding issues allowing for more detox and rehab options.
Moorhead Police Chief David Ebinger says fighting the epidemic will take the avoidance of criminalizing addicts, and pushing the need for treatment.
“It’s got to reach inside jails and prisons, so that people who are incarcerated have access to something that works to get them clean on the way out,” said Chief Ebinger.
The scenario is all too familiar for Shelly Elkington, of Minnesota, whose 26-year-old daughter died of a heroin overdose after becoming addicted to opioids that were treating her pain for Crohn’s disease.
“By the time her doctor wanted to help her and take her off these meds, her addiction had become far more intense than any of us planned. She promised me 100 times she would never use heroin,” said Elkington.
That bill still needs to pass in the House.
Current statistics show that 4 out of 5 heroin addicts started with prescription drugs.
