Community leaders join forces to fight opioid crisis

Community leaders across western Connectciut gathered Tuesday at the Government Center in Bridgeport and vowed they would band together to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic.
The Bridgeport Health Department, in collaboration with Mayor Joe Ganim, announced the launch of Bpt IAmU, a public health campaign aimed at raising awareness of the opioid crisis across the entire state.
Bridgeport, Fairfield, Stratford, Trumbull and New Haven leaders vowed Tuesday to work together to strategize treatment and prevention efforts.
In Bridgeport alone, the fire department says it issued 100 doses of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan last year, reviving someone every two days. Officials say those numbers need to change.
"These numbers are people," says Fairfield Police Chief Gary MacNamara. "And these numbers are incidents, and these numbers affect a lot of things. So from a law enforcement perspective, 'What we do?' We try to prevent it, and we prevent it through awareness, we do education in the schools."
Bpt IAmU will be launching a website containing information on local resources and data.