 Well it's an epidemic that has swept the nation and today students at Bemidji State University were educated on the trends of these illicit and prescribed opioid drugs. Now the lecture on the opioid crisis was part of the university's save the spring break campaign to inform students of the risk and effects opioid drugs can have on an individual. Next week is spring break. Students have the entire week off. Some of them travel to exotic places. Some of them are going to hang out here. We know they're going to go home and hang out with their friends. We want to make sure that they come back next week that they're going to be safe and healthy and they return to us. Topics discussed range from heroin and fentanyl abuse to the illicit use of prescribed opioid drugs and how these substances can affect people's thoughts, behaviors and the way they act. Guest speaker Dr. Kelly Olson says people can educate themselves by understanding where these drugs are coming from. When we talk about opioid epidemic it encompasses so much from the actual person themselves to the family to the community to the country at large. So it's a very very deep sourced problem. The opioid epidemic was declared a national emergency in 2017 and has since been on the rise. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.