Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland joined other former U.S. governors at the Harvard T.H. Chan School Public Health Friday on a forum discussing the opioid crisis.
The roundtable included discussion from Steven Beshear, Governor of Kentucky, Linda Lingle, Governor of Hawaii, and Jay Nixon, Governor of Missouri about successes and needed improvements within their respective states.
When it came to areas of improvement for Ohio’s battle against opioid addiction, Governor Strickland cited rural communities that have limited recovery options.
“It is true that the kind of treatments that are available in some of the larger metropolitan areas, the trained professionals and so on are simply non-existent in these smaller communities,” Governor Strickland said. “And so we need to focus on that especially.”
None of the Ohio Substance Abuse Mental Health Services certified providers offer programs in a rural county.