Letters: Haley should tackle overdose epidemic

While other governors and presidential candidates speak out, Gov. Nikki Haley’s silence on the heroin and opioid overdose epidemic risks the lives of thousands of South Carolinians.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, says that deaths from drug overdoses have increased 137 percent since 2000, devastating families and communities.

Gov. Haley is well aware of the problem: She commissioned the Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Council and signed the S.C. Overdose Prevention Act, which allows first responders to administer the opioid antidote naloxone in an overdose emergency. But as emergency rooms wrestle with an increase in overdoses, reports sit on shelves, naloxone distribution goes unchecked, and families are left grieving.

The governor’s voice is needed to highlight that South Carolina is not immune to death from overdose and to urge legislators this session to address our public-health emergency. Bringing overdose to the forefront and reassuring families that they have support will begin to save lives.

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Letters: Haley should tackle overdose epidemic."