Giving Compass' Take:

• Donald Norcross, a representative from New Jersey shares his stories of dealing with family members who suffer from addiction and comments on the changing demographics of opioid users in the United States. 

• Norcross recognizes that addiction is something that can affect everyone and that opioids can be found all types of places, not just urban areas.  How does this recognition help start to solve the problem?  

• Read about how the private sector is taking action against the opioid addiction. 

The opioid crisis is hitting families across the nation regardless of income, race or gender. Lawmakers are no exception. In the past few months, The Hill has talked to a number of House and Senate members who have a personal connection to addiction and the opioid epidemic.

Rep. Donald Norcross's (D-N.J.) grandmother was loving and caring, doting on all four of her grandsons whenever they visited. But the Norcross brothers didn't get to visit when she was in “one of those moods.” “We didn't understand it,” said Norcross, a New Jersey Democrat. “Certainly I didn't, until I grew older.” He eventually learned his grandmother had been addicted to alcohol.

The country is grappling with how to solve the opioid epidemic, a task that isn’t easy. Yet, thousands of people are also dying per year from misusing alcohol and other drugs.

Personal experiences helped shaped Norcross’s views as he works on issues touching on addiction in Congress, where he serves as a vice chairman of the House Bipartisan Heroin Task Force.

In the past, drug usage had been viewed more as an urban problem. But in recent years, the country has begun recognizing — and lawmakers have shared anecdote after anecdote — that addiction impacts all kinds of families and communities.

Norcross said his view of addiction has evolved.

He said the task force he helps lead understands that “we also need to raise the awareness to the American public that this isn’t something to be ashamed of, no different than any other disease, that people need help, and they need treatment.”

Read the full article about opioid addiction by Rachel Roubin at The Hill