The opioid epidemic began making headlines years, if not decades, ago. But it’s on the rise still. The latest statistics puts the rate of fatal overdoses at one every 13 minutes in the United States, meaning, by the end of this segment, the widespread use of these drugs will have taken another life.
This prompted President Trump to declare it a “public health emergency” back in October and the White House to host a summit on the subject just last week. There have been countless treatment centers opening up across the county and money being invested into research and prevention through treatment drugs like Vivitrol.
But, one group is going straight to what they say is the root of the problem, the big drug distributors that push these pills out across the country in the first place.
Travis Bornstein is the president of Teamsters Local 24 in Ohio, part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is a trade union.
Bornstein joins Gulf Coast Live to talk a bit more about the Teamsters’ efforts in the face of the opioid epidemic.
