Surgeon General visits Palmer to discuss opioid epidemic

Drug addiction, long viewed as a moral failing, is now recognized as a chronic brain disease. US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy brought this message to the Alaska Wellness Summit in Palmer on Thursday. Substance abuse caregivers, recovering addicts and health officials rubbed shoulders at the day-long meeting, with the common aim of combating the opioid abuse epidemic in Alaska.
Vivek H. Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General (Photo courtesy of the office of the Surgeon General)The Alaska Wellness