Gov. Snyder: “We have an opioid crisis in our state”
MARQUETTE — During his annual summer trip to the Upper Peninsula, Gov. Rick Snyder announced the creation of a new council to combat the crisis of opioid and prescription drug abuse.
The Council on Opioid and Prescription Drug Enforcement, or COPE, will meet once a month with local, state, and federal officials that are tasked with enforcing laws geared toward opioids. From 1999-2015, more than 4,400 people died from an opioid overdose.
More than half of those deaths have occurred since 2010.
“We have an opioid crisis in our state and we need to step-up and treat it that way,” said Gov. Snyder. “We have people that have prescriptions that occasionally see someone in pain so they say, ‘hey let me give you one of my pills.’ That’s wrong. There’s a whole series of treatment, rehabilitation, and ways to help people.”
Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley will lead the council, coordinating with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and the DEA along the way.