Jim Johnson recently retired as the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Drug Control Policy in Huntington, West Virginia-a city in which 10% of people are addicted to opioids. In the past, the main strategy that Huntington employed to deal with the drug crisis was incarceration. However, having served as the city's former police chief and a jail administrator, Jim came to realize that alternatives to incarceration and traditional law enforcement strategies could more effectively tackle addiction in his community.
Jim decided to lead with a more comprehensive approach, partnering with diverse community organizations in an effort to divert people addicted to opioids away from the prison system and to assist them in gaining access to treatment and reclaiming their health. Watch Jim's 2017 TEDMED Talk to learn more about how the innovative, collaborative, and nationally-recognized programs embraced in Huntington are helping the city to tackle the opioid epidemic and bringing a new sense of hope to the community.