With Connecticut ranked third in the nation in the rate of fatal opioid overdoses, legislators are asking attorneys to speak up and try to help reverse the worsening public health nightmare.

Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-5) and other legislators sounded the alarm during this year's Connecticut Legal Conference, announcing that the opioid epidemic killed 917 Connecticut residents in 2016, up from 695 the previous year.

“This problem is real, and it's serious,” Esty told a crowd of about 100 attorneys at a panel held in conjunction with the Connecticut Bar Association's annual meeting at the Connecticut Convention Center. “We need to stop the stigma and start figuring out what to do to address these issues.”