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DeWine, Ginter, talk of heroin crisis before Columbiana officials
By Joe Gorman
LISBON
State Rep. Tim Ginter of Salem, R-5th, said he has knocked on a lot of doors this fall while campaigning, and a top issue he has run across is the opiate abuse epidemic that has plagued both the country and Columbiana County.
Ginter was one of several officials on hand Tuesday at the county Government Services Building to meet with state Attorney General Mike DeWine to see how they could come up with a strategy to combat opioid and heroin abuse.
The county was thrust into the spotlight in early September after East Liverpool police circulated photos of a couple passed out in their car from a heroin overdose with a young child in the back seat. Police said at the time they made the image public because they wanted people to know what they deal with on a daily basis.
State officials also have said they are struggling with a rise in recent years of deaths related to opioid and heroin overdoses.
Ginter said the planning stages for the summit already had started before the photo happened. But when going door to door, Ginter said people are very concerned about opiate and heroin abuse.
“Either the No. 1 or No. 2 issue people bring up to me is the drug problem,” Ginter said.
DeWine said he thinks education is the key to start turning the tide against the epidemic, saying that students should be educated from kindergarten to 12th grade, stressing that he thinks any material should be “age appropriate” for younger students, but also to get the message out that heroin and opioids lead to addiction and jail or death.
Besides education, DeWine also said getting residents involved is a key.
“I have found that what works is communities are so sick of the problem that they rise up in a grass-roots effort,” DeWine said.
DeWine also praised drug courts and said that more treatment is needed because far too often, people simply dry out in jail because there is no space for them to be treated.
“That is not the most appropriate use for our county jails,” DeWine said.
DeWine and Ginter were both in agreement that the drug epidemic is not something that can be addressed by just arresting people for using or selling drugs. They said education and treatment are needed as well.
Also on hand was U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, who said the drug crisis is a top concern among officials in Washington.
“This a topic of discussion in every quadrant of our capital,” Johnson said.
DeWine said after the meeting that members of his staff have been designated to follow up with officials who were present so his office can help them put some of the ideas they come up with to work.