article_snippet.sent: The institute is working with state health leaders to control the "severe outbreak," which has spread among users of a prescription opioid called Opana.
article_snippet.sent: This is a huge number of cases for an area that has a population of only a few thousand people.
article_snippet.sent: Indiana declared a public health emergency in that county in March.
article_snippet.sent: The state is also offering job services to people in the area.
article_snippet.sent: Dr. Joan Duwve, the chief medical consultant with the Indiana State Department of Health, spoke at length about how communities all along the Ohio River in her state and in Kentucky and West Virginia have seen a huge problem with prescription drug abuse, particularly in areas where there "is not a lot to do.
article_snippet.sent: Duwve said this has been a problem for these areas for at least a decade.