Opioid abuse in the State of Alaska

The State of Alaska just had a forum that included the FBI, members of the Yukon-Kuskokwim region, the WAANT (Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team), and community behavioral health representatives concerning the sobering statistic: Alaska has 50% higher rates of deaths than the national average of opioid- and heroin-related deaths per capita. Here in Alaska, I am convinced that much of the rampant abuse is due to these two facts - Alaska leads the nation in domestic violence and sexual assaults per capita, and they are rooted and grounded in historical and generational traumas that have scarred children who now have grown up into damaged adults who seek the 'medicinal' relief of narcopharmacology.