Gov. Jeff Colyer signs an executive order Thursday forming a task force to address substance abuse disorders in Kansas.

Topeka ? Gov. Jeff Colyer signed an executive order Thursday establishing a multiagency task force to study opioid addiction and other substance abuse problems in Kansas and to make recommendations for future changes in policies and statutes.

Colyer, a plastic surgeon by profession, said he has seen the results of substance abuse firsthand in his own medical practice.

“I have had patients die,” he said. “I have seen people have their lives ruined. And I’ve also seen them recover as well.”

During a Statehouse news conference, Colyer said Kansas saw only 35 opioid-related deaths in 2000. By 2016, he said, that number had climbed to 159.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there were 42,000 deaths in the United States from opioid abuse alone in 2016.

Opioids are a class of drug that includes heroin as well as prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin.

Colyer said there is a connection between heroin and prescription opioids, especially since physicians have been encouraged to restrict opioid dispensing.

“One of the things that is happening in other states is that as the prescription use has changed, it is being substituted by heroin,” he said. “So we need law enforcement and everybody involved in this. This is not a simple question.”

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, however, said that in her community, the No. 1 drug problem is methamphetamine, an illegal stimulant drug that is highly addictive.

“It’s horrific on how quickly it destroys a life,” Wagle said.

The task force will be chaired by Dr. Jeff Lakin, the state’s chief medical officer and a former Republican state lawmaker from Wichita before he was appointed to his new post in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in January.

The task force will also include members from the Department of Corrections, Department for Children and Families, the Department for Aging and Disability Services and seveal other agencies, as well as people appointed by lawmakers from both parties, Colyer said.