CORTLAND — State Senator Jim Seward will be in the City of Cortland next week for a meeting of a state task force addressing drug issues.

Seward, who is a member of the Joint Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction, will be at the Cortland County Office Building next Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. for a public hearing on the issue. Also present will be fellow task force members including Binghamton’s state senator Fred Akshar, health care professionals, police, and other addiction experts.

Seward’s office says the public meeting of the task force is one of several that will be happening around the state, and residents are invited to attend and offer written testimony about the opioid problem. Seward himself says it’s an effort to hear directly from people in smaller communities about how heroin has affected them, as well as get feedback from local experts and open up the process of government to more public view.