The Centre County District Attorney’s Office and the Heroin Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative will host the second of two town hall meetings this summer on the opioid and heroin epidemic.
The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on July 31 at the American Philatelic Society’s Sudman Hall, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte.
Community education presentations will be offered on prevention, treatment and recovery support and law enforcementRelated resources will be available and time will be set aside for a question-and-answer session.
Related resources will be available and time will be set aside for a question-and-answer session.
‘Centre County is not immune from the heroin and opioid epidemic,’ a release from the DA Bernie Cantorna’s office said. ‘As such, we are encouraging members of our community to come and learn about what resources are available and what practices they can follow to help keep their loved ones safe.’
The HOPE Initiative was formed in 2016 by the Centre County Criminal Justice Advisory Board to address substance abuse and drug overdoses in the county. Since then it has grown to include representatives from a number of community and government organizations.
Cantorna said at the first town hall meeting that Pennsylvania has the fourth highest opioid overdose rate in the country. As of the end of June, Centre County had 12 opioid overdoses this year, with three other suspected cases under review. Those 15 so far this year are one more than the county had in all of 2017.
‘It is a serious health crisis and one that cannot be dealt with just by law enforcement,’ Cantorna said. ‘We cannot arrest our way out of this problem. It has to include all aspects of the community working toward solutions. That means education, treatment and prevention are extremely important and a part of the puzzle in solving this health crisis.’
Watch video of the first town hall meeting, held July 17 at Philipsburg Middle School, below, courtesy of CNET.
