Two-day forum hopes to address the question of how to stop the opioid crisis

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The abuse of opioid drugs is a public health crisis in Wisconsin. It's killed hundreds in each of the last few years.

What no one knows yet is how to stop it. That's what people were talking about at a forum on opioid abuse at Milwaukee's Hyatt Regency Hotel on Thursday.

Attorney General Brad Schimel spoke and said you can't arrest your way out of the crisis and police have learned that targeting the drug suppliers isn't the best answer.

"We finally learned the lesson that if you don't address the demand, if you don't deal with why people are searching for drugs to abuse, someone's gonna supply the drugs," Schimel said.

The State Department of Health Services is hosting the two-day forum.

They recently announced Milwaukee County is getting a $250,000 grant to help treat people who abuse opioids.