Examining America’s Opioid Crisis

David Armstrong
Senior Enterprise Reporter, STAT
Peter Shumlin
81st Governor, State of Vermont
Visiting Fellow, Institute of Politics, Spring 2017
Gil Kerlikowske
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (2014-2017)
Institute of Politics Resident Fellow, Spring 2017
Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy (2009-2014)
Sheila Burke (Moderator)
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS
Faculty Research Fellow, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, HKS

Peter Shumlin, former Governor of Vermont, Gil Kerlikowske, former Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and David Armstrong, Senior Enterprise Reporter for STAT, joined moderator Sheila Burke, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, for a discussion on the growing opioid epidemic affecting the United States. The Panelists discussed many facets of the problem, including its origins, the nature of the population affected most deeply by the crisis, and a myriad of public and private efforts to deliver assistance and help to those communities and people most affected by opioid addiction. Additionally, the panelists took questions from the audience regarding the changing demographics of addiction, the role of physicians and doctors in stemming addiction, and other solutions to a growing crisis.