Experts in law, medicine, public policy, social services, politics, education, nursing, law enforcement, emergency medical services, treatment options and other fields from across the state came together at our School of Law to seek information and answers to the opioid crisis in Connecticut.

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aclyn Lucibello, a former opioid addict, jumped right into the deep end of the darkness.

“Here I am, a convicted felon, and the choices of my past continue to live with me,” Lucibello told those attending a recent forum, “Building Bridges and Finding Answers: The Opioid Crisis in Connecticut.”

Lucibello was in graduate school and working as a social worker with a bright future. The picture changed after filling several prescriptions for Percocet to relieve post-surgical pain and she was hooked. But when the scripts stopped, the arrests began on charges of larceny and other crimes to pay for her drug habit.

“Eventually, I could no longer get the prescription drugs, so what did I do? I turned to heroin. Nobody in their right mind is going to stay dope sick for more than a day or two,” said Lucibello, who spent three years in state prison and gave birth to a son while shackled to a hospital bed.