They're both in agreement, Opioid abuse has been a big problem in not only Tennessee, but everywhere.
However, Davidson County Assistant District Attorney Ed Ryan and the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs for Statewide Initiatives for University of Tennessee, Dr. David Stern, have been tackling the problem in different ways.
Ryan, a law enforcement veteran of 16 years, has turned his law enforcement background into a career in prosecuting dealers of drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, and crystal meth.
"It's hitting everybody, and I think it's because of the deaths that occurring now, that are more prevalent than just cocaine use or crack when it was at its highest point. The death rate is what's alarming everybody, and it's kind of hit fast, and I think people are trying to find the best way to handle it," said Ryan.
The ADA has believed solving a growing drug problem in the state could involve increasing felony penalties for drug dealers and suppliers. It's an idea Ryan has already ran by District Attorney General Glenn Funk.
"When you start brining in Heroin, particularly if it's laced with fentanyl, or carfentanil, which is basically a poison, just putting it on your clothes, getting in your fingers can kill you," Ryan said. "I think it needs to be an A felony, and I think it needs to be 100% crime. If you're going to sell heroin and anything laced with fentanyl, you should go to prison for a long time."
Ryan said he believes the drugs are being brought to Nashville from Mexico, through Texas to Atlanta or Chicago, and eventually into Music City.
"It runs basically like any business organization, I mean, they have suppliers. Middle men, deliverers, and then people that sell it on the streets," Ryan said.
Focusing on the addicts has been Dr. Stern. He's heading a statewide push to increase knowledge among physicians.
"There's no problem more important than the Opioid epidemic. I felt that that was a place where the University of Tennessee Health Science Center should make a major effort because that's something that has a major affect on healthcare," he said. Stern has been among the leadership in charge of the relatively new Center for Addiction Science at the University.
One of Dr. Sterns plans has included recruiting ten doctors from across the state to visit the addiction center in Memphis to become addiction specialists. Those doctors would then return to the major cities of Tennessee and share their knowledge about how to fight addiction. Dr. Stern said he hopes this will create a network of doctors who can work together to test new drugs and conduct clinical trials.
"The most important thing that our approach be that addiction is a medical problem. It's not a stigma associated with it, it's not an issue of low morality or weak character, it's medical associated, and it needs to be treated by medical doctors according to evidence-based protocols," said Dr. Stern.
