The state Department of HumanServices hosted an Opioid Prevention training seminar at the state Capitol in Bismarck.
The Department's director of behavioral health, Pam Sagness, said prevention can take a number of forms.
"That can be administering medication like naloxone to save a life, but also looking at community prevention," Sagness said. "those community efforts may prevent the abuse of opioids in the first place."
The department's prevention administrator, Laura Anderson, said the first step toward prevention of opioid abuse and overdosing is identification.
"What are the risk factors we can look at," Anderson said. "Who are most at risk, and what are some strategies that are evidence-based that we know can work."
Anderson said anyone who currently uses an opioid could be at risk of an overdose.
"It could be individuals who are using opioids," Anderson said. "It could be individuals who are taking a break and haven't used the drugs in a while. And it could be an individual who has had a non-fatal overdose -- that person is also at a higher risk of overdosing again."
Sagness said the seminar explored the best practices for prevention.
"Such things as limiting access to prescription drugs," Sagness said. "Participating in such things as the 'Take Back' programs and syringe service programs."
Anderson said another key prevention strategy is to get people into treatment programs.
"What we want people to take away from the seminar is more ideas on what we can do," Anderson said.
The training comes from the federal Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration.