DETROIT "" The Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School hosted Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, on Tuesday, Sept. 13, in Detroit.

In the morning, Botticelli, who has met with stakeholders across the country to highlight innovative solutions to the opioid epidemic, joined former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and Detroit-area physicians and treatment center providers to call for community solutions to this epidemic, including expanding access to medication-assisted treatment such as buprenorphine. The morning session was at the Community Health and Social Services Center.

In the afternoon, Botticelli spoke to Doug Skrzyniarz's class, Medicine and Political Action in the Community, at the WSU School of Medicine.

Other speakers in the morning session were J. Ricardo Guzman, CEO of Community Health and Social Services and chairman of the National Association of Community Health Centers; Dr. Jamie Hall, a provider with Community Health and Social Services and senior staff physician in the Department of Family Medicine of the Henry Ford Medical Group; Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law and the law school's distinguished legislator in residence; Barbara McQuade, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan; and Dr. George Sawabini, a Detroit-area physician and registered pharmacist who is certified to prescribe medication-assisted therapy for opiate addiction and is board certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Other speakers in the afternoon were Levin, Skrzyniarz and WSU Provost Keith Whitfield.

Photos:

Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, speaks at the Community Health and Social Services Center in Detroit about finding solutions to the opioid epidemic. For more photos, visit law.wayne.edu/botticelli2016.

Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, speaks at the Wayne State University School of Medicine to about 150 medical, law, nursing, pharmacy and social work students and faculty to increase awareness of opioid addiction and new treatment alternatives.

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, right, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law and the law school's distinguished legislator in residence, shares a lighthearted moment with Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.