Five universities in Virginia have come together in a consortium to help fight the opioid epidemic, the Associated Press reports.
Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia and Old Dominion, George Mason and Virginia State universities have partnered with the commonwealth’s Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services to support prevention and treatment programs and to collect and analyze data related to the crisis.
Old Dominion officials said the partnership was sparked in part by a 2017 report from the university that dug into the economic impact of opioid addiction.
The study found, for instance, that the impact of prescription-painkiller abuse could reduce Virginia gross domestic product by as much as 1.7 percent.
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