LIMA, OH (WLIO) - The Lima Rotary Club gets a look at the problem of substance addiction from a person that knows it firsthand.
The chief clinical officer for Health Partners of Western Ohio, Dr. Warren Morris gave an inside look into local treatment efforts to help people addicted to opiates, stimulants, and alcohol. Dr. Morris says that we don't have waiting lists for aneurysms or for emergency C-sections, but there are waiting lists to get people into treatment programs, and having an addiction is just as deadly. And he would like the public to understand that addiction is like any other disease.
"The stigma of addiction really needs to be overcome. You know, we don't shun diabetics, we don't shun someone with lung disease, but if someone is an addict, suddenly the barriers go up and we push them away," commented Dr. Warren Morris, specialist in addiction medicine at Health Partners of Western Ohio.
To help drive the point home, Dr. Warren said just during his presentation, statistically 13 people have died from an overdose nationwide.
