In the process of reporting on the nationwide opioid crisis, there’s one common refrain that surfaces in conversations more than any other: “We aren’t going to arrest our way out of this problem.”
But, while there is overall consensus that the criminalization of drug use isn’t the right tactic to use, there is much less unity in identifying other approaches that state and local governments can take.
Richard Leadbeater, a state government industry manager at Esri, the Redlands, California-based geographic information systems software company has one idea: “To be honest, the best ammunition that public officials can embrace is storytelling.”
And, for Leadbeater, that storytelling comes in the form of data and maps.
– Quinn Libson
Staff Correspondent
Route Fifty