Fargo, N.D. (KFGO) - About 200 people, including parents, teachers, administrators and all three local college and university presidents were on hand for "Arms Wide Open," the third community meeting on the recent rise in opioid overdoses and drug-related deaths.
Fargo Schools Superintendent Jeff Schatz says he hopes the attention is making a difference.
"We just started school and I don't think we have seen anything that would be a concern to us in the schools," Schatz said, "but what we know is we are a reflection of the community and if these kinds of things are going on in our community its something we can assume is going on with some of our young people. And so we just want to make sure people are educated, understand what's going on, and people are having a discussion with their children and keeping an eye on what they're up to."
Acting Federal Drug Enforcement Administration Director Chuck Rosenberg, a former federal prosecutor, says he's attended about 70 such forums around the country and he says Fargo-Moorhead is doing the right thing in bringing the issue out front.
He says the country has had about 47,000 pain killer or heroin-related deaths in the past year.