WATCH: Sessions discusses opioids with Columbus police

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will talk about the opioid crisis with police and family members of those killed by the epidemic during a speech Wednesday at the Columbus Police Academy in Ohio.

Sessions is scheduled to begin speaking around 11:45 a.m. ET. Watch live in the player above.

In Ohio, opioid overdoses kill eight people every day, according to WOSU. Nationwide, the epidemic killed 59,000 people last year, according to a New York Times analysis.

Earlier this week, a commission chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie asked President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency over the crisis.

“By declaring a state of emergency, the president would put the full weight of his office behind this emergency,” Christie said Monday.

PBS NewsHour will update this story as it develops.