LOWELL — Imagine a plane crash killing 115 people every day in America.

That’s the severity of the opioid epidemic in this country, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren stressed in Lowell Friday evening.

If that plane crash was happening on a daily basis, the country would take every single action to stop it, she said.

But those desperate efforts are not happening with the opioid crisis, the senator emphasized.

“This is a medical emergency,” she told attendees at the community conversation on opioids, held at UMass Lowell’s University Crossing.

“We need to deal with the problem head on,” Warren added. “And we need enough money to do that.”

If her legislation gets passed, money to tackle the opioid crisis would flow down to cities and towns across the country. Warren has introduced legislation with U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, that would give local communities resources for opioid treatment and care.

The bill would allocate $100 billion over the next 10 years.

Everyone has been touched by “this horrible disease,” Warren said.

“It’s going to take all of us to get a bill like this through Congress,” she told attendees, who filled the Moloney Ballroom. “So I’m here to talk to you about it, to talk about the problem, and ask for your help in making real change in this country.”

Warren said her bill would provide treatment and care to the people who need it most, similar to how the federal government tackled the HIV/AIDS epidemic decades ago.

The government put real resources behind reversing that crisis, and it helped turn around the epidemic, she said. Warren wants that same commitment for the opioid crisis.

“Money that will make a real difference,” she said.

Warren admitted that $100 billion sounds like a lot of money. However, she pointed out the Trump administration estimated that the cost of the opioid epidemic for only last year was $500 billion.

It’s also the first time in a very long time that life expectancy is going down in this country, she said, which is tied to the opioid crisis and young people dying from overdoses.

In Congress, they’ve made good bipartisan progress on this issue, but the tough part remains the funding, Warren said.

“I’m going to keep fighting,” she said.

When Warren was asked about her stance on the controversial supervised injection sites, the senator said she believes in science.

“I believe we need to pursue treatments that are scientifically proven to help,” Warren said. “The early studies I’ve seen show that supervised injection sites have two consequences. The first is fewer deaths and the second is more people who then move into treatment.

“If that’s what the science shows, then that’s the direction we should go,” she added.

In addition to Warren, U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas spoke at the community conversation about opioids Friday evening.

“There’s been a lot of concerted effort to come together here in the Merrimack Valley,” Tsongas said.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan discussed the need to use resources for education, prevention, treatment and recovery. Ryan added that Warren has been a fierce advocate for them in Washington, D.C.

Communities are ready to address this crisis if they get the resources, according to the senator. They know what works on the ground, she added.

Lowell would be able to put the money to good use immediately because of the partners “we have on the ground fighting this,” said City Manager Eileen Donoghue.

Follow Rick Sobey on Twitter @rsobeyLSun.