Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz led a discussion Wednesday at Middlesex Hospital on the burgeoning opioid abuse problem in this country, hearing firsthand from first responders, state and local officials, providers and police.
She provided some stark statistics, including those from last year, when more than 1,000 deaths were attributed to opioid abuse in Connecticut.
“This year, we are on track to have more. For a while, it looked like we were moving in the right direction and deaths were decreasing, but, unfortunately, that’s not the case for our state,” Bysiewicz said. She heard from those on the front lines, including Police Chief William McKenna. His officers have been attacking the scourge of abuse from many angles, but the department has very little to no funding to conduct extensive investigations, he said.
They spend “hundreds and hundreds of man hours” trying to make a dent in the growing problem.