Illegal drugs strain budgets

Columbiana County officials see increasing numbers of drug problems and people seeking help.

LISBON — James H. Valdez. 44, and Michelle L. Smith, 32, both of Placerville, Calif., were indicted this week on charges of illegal-drug possession.

The indictment says they had about 3 pounds of marijuana in their possession when they were arrested May 11 of this year at a campground in Elkrun Township.

There were a a few other open indictments issued by the county grand jury. But Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron said that the majority of the secret indictments that were also handed down by the grand jury were drug cases from 2008.

Herron’s office, the county coroner’s office and law-enforcement and health agencies are all dealing with drug problems with limited resources during a bad economy.

Herron is concerned that communities that provide members of the county’s drug task force will not provide officers who are paid by their police department.

One officer from Columbiana is retiring, and that city has another officer on the task force. Other officers come from Lisbon, Leetonia, East Liverpool, Salem and the county sheriff’s office.

County Coroner Dr. William A. Graham Jr. has issued his report for 2008 that showed 69 alcohol and/or drug deaths in the county.

That’s a “tremendous jump” from the 37 deaths as compared to 2007, Dr. Graham said.

Fran Rudibaugh, the chief forensic investigator for the coroner, produced two large bags full of prescription bottles from one case alone.

Some people are doctor- shopping to get painkillers that they then sell illegally, which the coroner’s staff said is a big business.

Dan Downard, the director of the county’s drug task force, is well aware of the drug problem.

His agency, with the Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation, used an Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter Tuesday to look for marijuana plants.

About 80 plants overall were seized in locations in Knox Township at the western edge of the county and in Unity Township on the eastern side of the county.

Downard said of one location, “It had marijuana in it last year. This year, it has soybeans.”

There are also problems on the treatment end.

Kathleen Chaffee, the associate director of the county’s Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, said the two agencies lost $1.4 million in state funds for the 2009 fiscal year that ended June 30.

That’s about a 30 percent cut in programming and an 18 percent budget cut overall. However, the agencies have some reserves.

Cases of people seeking treatment for medication abuse locally totaled 163 in fiscal year 2008 and 233 in the fiscal year 2009.

Chaffee is helping to launch a countywide group that would use long-term measures to prevent chemical abuse.

wilkinson@vindy.com