Mayor Miro Weinberger and the Burlington Police Department are hosting an Opioid Town Hall meeting tomorrow at 6:00 PM in Contois Auditorium, featuring not only local leaders in our response to the crisis but prominent national voices as well:

- Gil Kerlikowkse entered policing in 1972, going on to serve as the nation's Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (as America's "Drug Czar") from 2009 to 2014. Prior to that role, he was the Chief of Police of Seattle, Washington (2001-2009), and ended his policing and law enforcement career as the head of US Customs and Border Patrol (2013-2016). He has also served as the commissioner of the Buffalo Police Department, the chief of the Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, Florida, police departments.

-Josh Sharfstein, M.D., is the current Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was principal deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration until 2011, and was Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene from 2011 to 2014, and. He is the former health commissioner of Baltimore, Maryland. He is also presently the director of the American Health Initiative. His biography is here.

- Fred Ryan recently retired into the private sector after serving for over 19 years as the Chief of Police of Arlington, Massachusetts and serving as a police officer for 33 years in total. He is a nationally-recognized leader in spreading the ways in which small and mid-sized police departments can play a role in addiction and recovery initiatives. He serves as the co-Chair of the national Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative, is a board member of Communities for Restorative Justice, is on the advisory board of Middlesex Community College's Alcohol & Substance Abuse Counseling program, and attended the executive session at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

At the meeting, you'll be able hear these experts speak about their experience with the opioid epidemic, watch city leaders in an exchange with them about the best way forward for Burlington, and then you can ask the questions that are on your mind about the opioid crisis.

We look forward to seeing you there.

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