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Prosecutor pushes drug abuse program
Potential employees are failing drug tests.
LISBON — Columbiana County should have a heroin treatment program to reduce the effects of drug abuse, county Prosecutor Robert Herron said.
“It’s desperately needed,” he added.
Abusers who want treatment have to go to Youngstown but often don’t have a car or money for gas to get there, he said.
Herron has estimated that about 80 percent of all crimes are tied to chemical abuse. That treatment would help people and also reduce the thefts, break-ins and other crimes committed by people seeking money for drugs.
When Herron began to speak out about the county’s growing drug problem in 2006, OxyContin, a powerful pain reliever, was a popular street drug.
“Heroin has taken over” for OxyContin, Herron said.
Now, law enforcement officials find heroin and cocaine equally.
But heroin is twice as addictive as the pills and is readily available, he said.
Eloise Traina, the director of the Family Recovery Center, agreed that the drug problem has “escalated tremendously.”
There are new drugs that can help with treatment, but many heroin abusers who want to get clean often relapse, she added.
“Nobody sets out to be an addict,” Traina said.
But many people are selling drugs. Through investigations, law enforcement officials have found the Jersey Boys, a gang from New Jersey, are bringing heroin into the county through East Liverpool. Cocaine is coming from Columbus into the county, and Youngstown dealers are making sales in Salem.
Several employers have said that potential employees have had difficulty passing a drug test. Herron said that results in a loss of productivity and greater health care costs for abusers.
“As the addictions get more severe, crimes become more confrontational,” he said.
Herron and Kristin Gish, project director for the Drug Free Action Alliance, are to speak on the drug problem at an informational meeting starting at 7:45 a.m. Friday at the Dutch Haus in Columbiana.
The goal is to launch a program to fight the problem.
Kathie Chaffee, the associate director of the Columbiana County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, said about 45 people are registered. They include representatives from faith-based organizations, elected officials, health professionals, social service agencies, schools, civic organizations and law enforcement agencies.
The prosecutor noted that staffing for the county’s drug task force has been “hit or miss” over the years as communities added or withdrew officers, often with little or no communication as to why officers were withdrawn. Herron said it takes time for officers on the task force to learn the ropes and create contacts.
He would like to see communities in the county provide more officers for the drug task force. If the cities and large townships each provided an officer, the task force could have eight or nine full time-officers. Smaller villages could have officers work part time for the task force.
wilkinson@vindy.