Experts say drug overdose deaths are increasing at an epidemic rate and Michigan is one of the states where the problem is the worst.
“This is a nationwide epidemic,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge of the Western District of Michigan
To discuss the problem and possible solutions, there was an opioid summit at Grandville High School on Monday night, March 19. Participating experts said prescription painkillers are the most common way people get addicted to opioids--drugs like Oxycontin. They also said it can start young, when children are still in middle school.
It has been a few years, but Grandville mother Mary Deboer said she clearly remembers the day her teenage son Matt died of an overdose.
“Two detectives came to my work and I knew,” she told the audience at the summit. “He had had a lethal dose of heroin. I just started screaming.”
The experts at the Grandville High School summit say overdose deaths are up by 30 percent. It's led to a decline in the average life expectancy in the United States.
“We would be foolish to say it is not everywhere,” says Grandville Public Schools Superintendent Roger Bearup. “We have invited everybody to come and learn more about this crisis and learn more about what it does.”
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