{"id":105475,"date":"2016-08-09T14:53:45","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T19:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=105475"},"modified":"2016-08-09T14:53:45","modified_gmt":"2016-08-09T19:53:45","slug":"heitkamp-meets-with-stutsman-cass-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=105475","title":{"rendered":"Heitkamp meets with Stutsman Cass, officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SenatorHeitkampofficial\"Jamestown (CSi)\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0U.S. Senator Heitkamp Tuesday gathered leaders in both Fargo and Jamestown to continue her listening series on the challenges faced by communities across the state in taking on the opioid abuse epidemic that has rapidly spread across the state. Tuesday\u2019s discussions follow yesterday\u2019s listening session in Grand Forks<\/a> which built on her legislative and on-the-ground work to make sure North Dakota families across the state receive the federal support they need to recover from and prevent opioid addiction.<\/p>\n

Together with Cass and Stutsman County area public health professionals, law enforcement officials, treatment specialists, and educators in Fargo and Jamestown, Heitkamp discussed which policies and practices have been most effective in beating addiction and overcoming abuse for individual and families in those communities, as well as ways to expand those efforts across the state. Leaders also spoke with Heitkamp about the need for better federal support to help each community address a severe lack of resources for law enforcement and treatment professionals and programs. Heitkamp underscored how her bill, which she unveiled<\/a> during a discussion with Bismarck leaders in May, would make sure the federal government is treating opioid abuse as the national public health and law enforcement crisis that it is by making available the appropriate education, prevention, and treatment resources communities need to recover and fight back.<\/p>\n

Across North Dakota, opioid-induced fatalities increased by 125 percent<\/a> from 2013 to 2014 alone according to the Centers for Disease Control.
\n<\/strong>Heitkamp says, \u201cAcross our state, too many lives and families have been ripped apart by opioid addiction and abuse \u2013 and to really fight this problem head-on, we need all hands on deck. \u00a0That\u2019s why I gathered leaders and experts from across the treatment and enforcement spectrum in Fargo and Jamestown today to make sure our communities are mounting the best possible defense across the state. And that means tackling opioid abuse by strengthening law enforcement, expanding best recovery practices, and identifying holes that still exist in our community infrastructure. In the Senate, I\u2019ve been working to achieve the real results families need \u2013 and helping pass legislation to expand existing tools was a good step, but it\u2019s not enough. North Dakotans I spoke with who on the front lines of this crisis in Fargo and Jamestown know we need the new, robust resources my bill would help provide, and I\u2019ll keep working to bring all sides together to deliver the support our communities desperately need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just last week, Heitkamp joined Fargo\u2019s City Commission<\/a> for a meeting on a strategic response to the growing opioid addiction and abuse in the community. During a roundtable discussion in Bismarck in May, Heitkamp announced her Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment (LifeBOAT) Act<\/em><\/a> to provide communities with the resource funding they need to take on the opioid crisis by establishing a one-cent fee \u2013 with certain exceptions \u2013 on each milligram of active opioid ingredient in prescription pain pills.<\/p>\n

Across the country, 47,000 Americans<\/a> lost their lives to the opioid and heroin abuse crisis in 2014. Since fighting North Dakota\u2019s methamphetamine crisis as the state\u2019s attorney general in the 1990s, Heitkamp has been working to stem the tide of addiction, abuse and illegal drug trafficking. On the federal level, Heitkamp has been working to address this issue by:<\/p>\n

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