President Barbara R. Snyder and Professor Daniel J. Flannery will join Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman today (Nov. 29) at a bipartisan public policy briefing on the opioid epidemic in Washington, D.C.
The event, titled “Combating the Opioid Crisis, From Treatment to Enforcement: Best Practices & Collaboration,” takes place on Capitol Hill and will be hosted by Sens. Brown and Portman and will feature opening remarks by President Snyder and a multidisciplinary panel discussion that includes Flannery.
With a look at partnerships among the court system, academia and others leading to effective prevention and treatment of the crisis, the event will be results-driven and provide advice to attendees. It also will touch on the gaps that exist in the system and policy changes that could improve them.
Members of Congress also will have the opportunity to share their observations.
Flannery, the Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun Professor and director of Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, will explain why it is crucial to gather information in real-time after overdoses, both fatal and nonfatal.
Other members of the panel will be:
- Justin Herdman, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio;
- Sara McIntosh, chief clinical officer at Fairfield County Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Board, medical director at Maryhaven Inc. and consultant addictionologist at Lower Lights Christian Health Center; and
- Judge Ari Porth, Circuit Court Judge in Broward County, Florida/Broward County Drug Treatment Program.
Other work to combat the opioid crisis that has ties to Case Western Reserve includes Flannery’s recent grant from the National Institute of Justice that totaled nearly $1 million to research the protocols Cleveland-area law enforcement follow after an opioid overdose.
Lee Hoffer, associate professor of anthropology, and Linda Burnes Bolton, who is on the university’s Board of Trustees, served on a committee that looked deeper into the crisis and devise potential ways to address it. The committee, which was convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, released a report in July.