Commissioner Judy Shiprack has been named to the National City-County Task Force on the Opiate Epidemic. Shiprack travels to the first meeting Thursday, April 7 to determine how cities and counties can address the opioid and heroin abuse crisis.
Commissioner Shiprack is one of 24 county executives, mayors, police chiefs and council members nationwide charged with increasing awareness about the epidemic, finding solutions and recommending policies to local, state and federal governments.
“We are in the midst of a national epidemic. Oregon and Multnomah County are taking action like improved policy and access to Naloxone and needle exchanges but we can do more. That’s why being part of this task force is so important, to see how other jurisdictions across the country are responding,’’ Commissioner Shiprack said.
Between 2009 and 2014, 750 people died of heroin or prescription opioid overdose in Multnomah County, the Health Department reports. The deaths represent just a fraction of the crisis, with ambulances responding more than a dozen times a week to overdoses in the community.
President Barack Obama has made combating the toll a priority. On March 29, 2016, he proposed $1.1 billion to expand treatment and prevent deaths. The National Association of Counties was one of several public and private groups working with the administration to expand health care, addiction treatment and access to the opiate reversal drug, naloxone.
The City-County Task Force plans to meet twice and publish a report on policy recommendations and best practices.
“Opioid addiction is not a moral failing,” said Commissioner Shiprack. “We are all vulnerable to this disease because of our human biology. Recovery is possible but not if overdose death occurs. I’m grateful to the Obama administration for increasing treatment dollars so Multnomah County and our national and local partners can take action.”
A former Multnomah County prosecutor, Commissioner Shiprack served in the Oregon House of Representatives before being elected in 2008 to represent District 3, which is most of SE Portland. She is the the co-chair of the Local Public Safety Coordinating Council and chairs the National Association of County’s Juvenile Justice Subcommittee.
