Jacksonville city officials gathered at the police department for an opioid task force meeting. 

The purpose of the meeting was to figure out what resources are available to the city and the county in regards to saving lives and reducing the opioid epidemic.

For the last six months, the task force has been reporting ways to accelerate the pace of reducing opioid overdose is in the area.

Although the crisis center won’t be open for another few weeks city officials say there are steps towards prevention the city is already working on.

Michael Lazzara, Mayor Pro Tem City of Jacksonville, said, “We’ve got to educate our youth, we’ve got to educate parents on drug abuse, drug use, opioids, clearing out their medicine cabinets of medications they no longer use and have forgotten about.”

With these meetings, the county and the city will have a game plan on the most important and quickest ways to connect people to treatment and save lives.