Could $60 million help end the opioid epidemic in North Dakota?

Fargo — North Dakota’s Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee met for a listening session Wednesday, June 29, in Fargo to gather ideas on how to best utilize funds North Dakota will receive as part of a national opioid settlement.

The state now has $8 million to work with right away, but North Dakota is set to receive an estimated $60 million over the next 18 four to 18 years.

“I think we might need to reconsider reviving the community task forces,”

NDSU Department of Public Health professor Mark Strand quickly caught the attention of the seven member North Dakota Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee, suggesting the revival of community tasks forces.

Task forces were an idea used when opioid overdose deaths started shocking community members in Fargo.

“You know, when we had that 8th Street scourge here in Fargo, the wealthiest, nicest community in our city saw multiple teenagers from wealthy families die of opiod overdose,” Strand said.

That’s when opioid task forces started. In 2016, the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on addiction partnered with the Dakota Medial Foundation in Fargo.

Law Enforcement, and officials from local public health and public schools came together to address the growing concerns of opioid misuse and addiction.

“I think we were concerned about our youth. So I remember attending multiple events and dragging students with me off to West Fargo High School and everywhere else to hear testimonies of families affected,” Strand said.

Part of the task force’s goals were to change the narrative of people who didn’t think drug overdoes needed support.

No one seems to know why it dissolved in Fargo several years ago, but, Michael Dulitz was part of a Grand Forks task force and says leadership was an issue.

“Task Force in grand Forks was in the need for someone to lead the efforts,” Dulitz said.

Other ideas on the table included prevention, treatment, and recovery programs.

My name is Anne Sara, better known as Sara.
I was born an only child in Port-au-prince, Haiti and moved to the U.S at the age of 2.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is where I was raised.
After graduating with my bachelor degree at Albright College, I moved to Florida to continue my studies.
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