The opioid crisis continues to be a concern in all communities including Marshall County.
Marshall County Health Administrator Christine Stinson told the Marshall County Council members last week that the number of overdose deaths in the county is alarming.
“We don’t have all of the exact causes of death, but preliminarily since the beginning of the year we’ve had three deaths in Marshall County due to drug overdoses,” said Stinson. “We are well on track to break the record of last year of the amount of deaths in Marshall County if we keep up this rate. In 2015, we had one. The numbers are staggering to me. I do know of two overdose rescues that we’ve had. We don’t always get the information when there’s an overdose and then a rescue.”
Those statistics were given after Councilwoman Penny Lukenbill discussed information from a recent AIC legislative conference where officials noted Indiana University’s commitment to invest $50 million to collaborate with community partners to prevent and reduce addictions in the state. According to an IU press release, the statewide initiative is one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive state-based responses to the opioid addiction crisis — and the largest led by a university.
The $50 million the school is investing in the initiative comes from reprioritizing existing funds, according to IU officials.
