Minnesota needs a statewide solution to the opioid epidemic

More than 4 in 10 people know someone who has been addicted to opioids. This epidemic doesn’t discriminate based on age, race or income – it affects every Minnesota community.

Opioid addiction has changed the lives of Minnesotans like Monica, a young woman who was prescribed opioid painkillers after a car crash left her with multiple broken bones and a torn ACL when she was just 18 years old. Monica began misusing her prescription pills, and when they became harder to get she turned to heroin.

Today, she is in recovery after treatment at CHI St. Gabriel’s Health, a hospital in Little Falls that set out with community partners to repair the devastating effects of the opioid crisis on local families.

The same program that treated Monica is being piloted throughout the state. It presents a successful model to prevent and treat addiction in our communities. But Minnesota’s hospitals can’t turn the tide on the opioid epidemic without a more sustainable support system. It’s time for a statewide legislative solution.