The opioid epidemic is real, and as the Steamboat Pilot & Today has reported and continues to report, it’s hit Steamboat Springs and Routt County hard. One overdose death is too many, and from 2014 to 2016, the rate of drug overdose deaths in Routt County increased six-fold, with more than 65 percent of those deaths attributed to the abuse of prescription opioids.

Thanks to the efforts of the Rx Task Force, a group of concerned community leaders who began meeting in late 2015 to work toward educating the public about the growing problem, the issue of prescription drug abuse in our area is not going unnoticed, nor will the problem go away without a fight.

That’s why we were encouraged when it was announced this month that Routt County and Yampa Valley Medical Center will be part of two different statewide initiatives aimed at fighting opioid abuse.

Read more at Steamboat Today.