State and local officials were at the White House Tuesday attending a State Leadership Day.
They discussed priorities like combating the opioid crisis right here in Northwest Arkansas.
Washington County Justice of the Peace Samuel Duncan said combating the opioid crisis could help alleviate the overcrowding of county jails statewide.
“The biggest impact it’s had is on our county jail system, so we have a massive overcrowding at the jail,” Duncan said. “We’ve got something like 75 individuals sleeping on the floor on the county jail , so now we have this issue with 52 percent recidivism rate — individuals going back to jail — and it’s consistently a theme of drugs is the issue. So how do we lower the recidivism rate, how do we lower the incarceration rate? If not were just going to have to expand our county jails.”
Duncan said he met with Senator John Boozeman and discussed possible grants in order to learn more about the opioid crisis.
He also met with officials from across the country to discuss ways they have solved similar issues.
