At Tuesday’s study session, the Tucson City Council unanimously voted to consider Fentanyl and opioid use a public health crisis and that the city should work with Pima County on creating a road map to address the crisis.
The council voted after hearing best practices for combating the crisis from Dr. Teresa Cullen, a UA professor, and others. Included in the highlighted recommendations are establishing a Fentanyl/opioid coordination team, strengthening individual and family trauma and recovery support, rapid access to behavioral health residential care, training frontline staff, and implementing opioid interventions.
Cullen emphasized how important collaboration and envisioning new ways in addressing the problem are to making inroads.