President Donald Trump’s top health official on Tuesday hailed a Colorado-based nonprofit as an example of how to turn the tide on the nation’s raging opioid epidemic.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price toured Phoenix Multisport’s Colorado Springs gym Tuesday evening – praising its ability to help participants feel like “family” while providing a safe space to remain sober.
“It kind of punctuates what we’ve seen in other communities, and that is that local solutions work best,” Price said.
The program, which began in Boulder in 2007 and expanded to Colorado Springs a few years later, bills itself as a long-term recovery program for people who want to quit drugs or alcohol. It’s since grown to nine locations across the nation, including Denver and Boston.
Price’s visit came on the heels of a as a means to force Congress into approving more money to combat the problem.
In Colorado, fatal narcotic painkiller overdoses have nearly tripled since 2001, claiming 300 lives in 2016, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
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