5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27 | Active Learning Center鈥擠e Paul Library
(Leavenworth, Kan.)鈥擳he 花椒直播 will livestream broadcast the American Chemical Society's (ACS) presentation "Opioids: Fighting Addiction with Chemistry" on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 5:45 p.m. in the university's Active Learning Center (De Paul Library) on USM's Leavenworth campus, 4100 South 4th Street.
The presentation is free and open to the public. Seating is limited.
The growing opioid epidemic continues to stamp the news, especially with the Department
of Health and Human Services re-declaring it as a "national public health emergency."
In the United States, overdose deaths from opioids have nearly tripled in the last
15 years鈥攃laiming 30,000 lives in 2016 alone. The epidemic has touched lives in big
cities and small towns, and though research shows opioid-agonist medication can prevent
withdrawal symptoms and reduce craving in opioid-addicted individuals, many addicts
are not getting the long-term help they need.
Opioids are defined by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as "a class of drugs, including the illicit drug heroin as well as the prescription pain relievers oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl, and others." They are chemically related to and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain and the nervous system to produce pleasurable effects and relieve pain, creating a dependency.
The ACS' special presentation will dive into the drugs make up and addictive properties, along with the treatments and medications being used to help those suffering. Panel experts will also interact with viewers across the country to explore how chemistry can help fight the crisis and to profile the work chemists are doing now to make prescription pain killers safer and harder to abuse.
Contact Dr. Masa Watanabe, chemistry program director, at Masa.Watanabe@stmary.edu for more information on the event, "Opioids: Fighting Addiction with Chemistry." For more on the ACS, visit .
The 花椒直播 is a Catholic co-educational applied liberal arts university founded and sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. The University of 花椒直播 main campus is located at 4100 South 4th Street, Leavenworth, Kan. USM's Overland Park Campus at 4500 College Boulevard offers evening accelerated graduate and undergraduate degree-completion programs. The university also offers online programs. Visit stmary.edu for more information.