Rep. David Rouzer meets with local leaders

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — From the opioid epidemic, to Gen-X, to the latest from the Trump administration, Rouzer wants action and collaboration from local leaders to crack down on big issues.

“We need to get our hands around it. We need a tremendous amount of education,” Rouzer said.

His main focus during Monday’s meeting- the opioid epidemic. He wants to address the issue with more education and see more effort on the local level.

“We need to pull in law enforcement and all of our mayors, our local officials, federal officials as well to collaborate on what we can do together.,” Rouzer said.

Rouzer wants to hold a symposium on the drug problem this fall.

“If not in the fall, in the spring, where we can pull together the experts that have the information that needs to be shared and so much of this can be handled through just broader public education,” Rouzer said.

Among other topics, commissioners brought up their concerns about the Gen-X.

“I don’t think people need to be alarmed, but I do think its an issue that we need to continue to explore as it relates to all these emerging contaminants and have some type of way to measure safety,” Rouzer said.

He says even with the involvement of the EPA, everything can be handled at the state level.

“There’s nothing in federal law and there’s certainly nothing in state law that prohibits the state from addressing any emerging contaminant any way that it chooses to, even without legislation at the state level,” Rouzer said.

With everything happening in the White House, Rouzer shared his thoughts on the current administration.

“Donald Trump may not be the package everyone was looking for at Christmas, but on the substance of things, everything that he’s doing I think is a great benefit to the American people and our constitutional Republic,” Rouzer said.