First Lady Vows To Combat American's Opioid Crisis
SAVIDGE: First lady Melania Trump led her first roundtable policy discussion on the opioid crisis in America, Trump just tweeting about it. "Many of those invited to the event were directly affected by opioid abuse."</s>PAUL: Meanwhile, in Ohio, one of the States been hit the hardest pike as crisis. Law enforcement officers are going beyond the call of duty to combat the growing epidemic there. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen have this.</s>CHARLES JOHNSON, DEPUTY SHERIFF, LUCAS COUNTY, OHIO: For 19 years, I wore this uniform --</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Charles Johnson has hung up this uniform for this uniform because of the opioid epidemic. As a deputy sheriff in Lucas County, Ohio, it's Johnson's job to visit overdose survivors in the hospital and try to save them.</s>COHEN: You're not there to arrest them.</s>JOHNSON: No.</s>COHEN: What are you there to do?</s>JOHNSON: I'm there to convince them to live. I have convince them that they have a second chance.</s>COHEN: Do you think it makes a difference that they see you in a coat and tie rather than a sheriff's uniform?</s>JOHNSON: Absolutely, I think so. For you to go in a uniform, you can offer them all the help in the world and he is going to shut you down.</s>COHEN: Every day, on average, six people overdose in his County.</s>JOHNSON: They'll meet their dealer up here in this parking lot and that's where they'll shoot up right here.</s>COHEN: On this day, Johnson gets a call to visit a woman in this Toledo emergency room. It turns out he knows her. She's a waitress in a local restaurant.</s>JOHNSON: She's waited on me and my wife there. I know her personally. These people are overdosing, they're your mailman, they're your neighbors, they're your -- they're your friends.</s>COHEN: More counselor than cop, Johnson promises that his team will drive her to detox.</s>JOHNSON: Her and I made an agreement, and we're going to go for it.</s>CODY MORRIS, RECOVERING HEROIN ADDICT: We met at the hospital and I was laying on that bed and you showed up and gave me an opportunity, man.</s>COHEN: Since 2014, Johnson and his team have convinced nearly 80 percent of overdose survivors to go into detox, an impressive number according to addiction specialists.</s>COHEN: You stick around in these people's lives.</s>JOHNSON: You know what, I remember every one of their names. I stop and I visit their homes, I know their families, I visit in the jails. I've been a parent to 100 addicts.</s>COHEN: You've been to jail 12 times?</s>MORRIS: Yes. Every time I got out of jail, I went back to the same thing, every single time.</s>COHEN: Having Charles around, did it make it easier to come off of heroin?</s>MORRIS: Yes, and he thanked me and he had only had known me for 10 minutes. He was like, Cody can do this, he's got this. And you were staying in touch making sure I was doing the right thing, you know, going, you working today? Yes, I'm working that's why like to hear, you know.</s>COHEN: Does it take an emotional toll?</s>JOHNSON: Oh, absolutely, you can get really burnt out doing this. My phone never stops ringing, I have people calling me 24 hours a day. I won't not answer that phone call, someone's life could depend on it.</s>COHEN: It's that commitment that's been making a difference in the overwhelming addiction epidemic in Lucas County. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Toledo.</s>SAVIDGE: Also coming up, recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, they've got everybody helping out even our four-legged friends. One dog's incredible clean-up story, next.