Coming up next month at Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac will be the 2025 Southwest Michigan Opioid Summit, organized by a coalition of health groups from around the region.

E.J. McAndrew is a substance abuse prevention supervisor at Woodlands Behavioral Healthcare Network in Cassopolis and tells us the last summit was in 2019. Since then, police, healthcare providers, and counsellors have seen new trends in opioid use, and it’s time for them to get back together.

“ We’re hoping to bring our colleagues up to speed on what is currently going on and what’s trending,” McAndrew said. “We’re also hoping to address some of the stigmas that go along with opioid addiction and opioid use.”

McAndrew says the opioid epidemic started with prescription painkillers that were legitimately ap

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