GASTONIA -- "It's in rural counties, it’s in places outside our city, it’s in small towns. It's everywhere,” said Councilman Robert Kellogg, Gastonia City Council.
Over the last couple of years, Gastonia has seen an increase in the number of opioid overdoses and overdose related deaths.
"I think people across the state and country are realizing that some of things that we've done in the past aren't working. It needs to be treated like the crisis it is,” said Kellogg.
In an effort to address this growing problem, the city is joining forces with the Drug Diversion and Treatment (DDAT) program. It's a county-wide effort started by the Gaston County Police Department to combat the epidemic by identifying the high-risk individuals and giving them the treatment they need.
"We want to educate, prevent and take care of the problems we have now,” said Chief Robert Helton, Gastonia City Police Department.
With this partnership, the Gastonia Police and Fire chiefs will attend DDAT meetings. Local mental health professionals say adding the City to this collaboration is another step in the right direction.
"The idea is that we all come together so we're not duplicating services and that we're providing the best treatment and using the community resources wisely,” said Andrew Schrag, Partners Behavioral Health Management.
Counicilman Kellogg said it will take the entire community to fight this epidemic. He said first by acknowledging the problem, and then doing something about it.
"I mean families need to come together, schools need to talk about it. It needs to be something that goes far beyond city council and law enforcement, it needs to be tackled on every level,” said Kellogg.
Kellogg said he wants the school system involved with this collaboration as well so they can start educating students about dangers of misusing prescription drugs.