Parents who lost kids, ex-addicts tell stories of loss, recovery at Walk Against Heroin

YOUNGSTOWN

Heroin was the short-term solution to all Anthony Dailey’s problems for the past eight years.

But the drug just made things worse for the 27-year-old Salem resident.

“I lost everything to heroin,” he said. “It ruined my life.”

Dailey has been clean from the illegal and highly addictive opioid drug for more than 80 days. He was among the participants in the Youngstown Walk Against Heroin Saturday afternoon.

The light-to-moderate rain showers did little to deter the hundred or so people that walked from Community Corrections Association Inc. at Market Street and Delason Avenue to the Mahoning County Courthouse, downtown. Participants were huddled together on Market Street, some under umbrellas, as they listened to several speakers in front of the courthouse. Speakers included parents who lost their children to heroin addiction and recovering addicts.

“It’s an epidemic,” said keynote speaker Leonard Campanello, a police chief in Gloucester, Mass.

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.