Opioid addiction scars Wisconsin's rural landscape

The United States Department of Agriculture convened this discussion, and others like it across the state and across rural America, because the opioid epidemic is not just a big-city issue. And the only way that the scourge can be addressed, Baldwin said, is through cooperation among leaders at the local, state and federal level.“We have not done our job, until we create a better and more effective partnership with regard to funding the services that we need,” Baldwin said. The U.S. Congress has done its part — but not completely, according to Baldwin. The Senate’s passage in July of the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act was intended to offer more treatment options — including diversion programs like drug court — as well as address the sources of opioid addiction, including prescriptions of opium-based painkillers.However, the funding of CARA, a proposed $1.1 billion, of which about $13 million would come to Wisconsin, did not get congressional approval.For that reason, Baldwin said, “CARA is comprehensive, in my mind, in name only.”