SHAMOKIN DAM – A U.S. Senator was in our Valley Monday to help continue addressing the ever-growing opioid problem. Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) hosted a round table discussion at the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce to continue finding solutions to the epidemic. Many local elected officials and medical professionals from around The Valley attended.
Though Senator Casey says some solutions are already underway, he stressed three other keys. One is education, “Not just for young people, but for children…literally children…so they never fall into this when they’re older. We have to examine how that education’s being delivered and is that part of this effort working.”
One of the other two keys is finding a way to treat victims more quickly, “A lot of this commitment needs people to go into this field and it’s not a field that has enough ‘troops’ so to speak. And then the number of treatments that’s available can be a challenge because someone that’s prepared to go into treatment and wants to go into treatment, but just the bed is not available for weeks or months.”
When asked about Republican U.S. Representative Lou Barletta’s (R-11th, Hazelton) entrance into the U.S. Senate race, Casey did not comment.
