Suburban America can’t ignore US opiate plague

As most should recog- nize by now, the tentacles of the monstrous heroin epidemic in this country reach far beyond the confines of their once storied killing grounds of poverty-plagued inner cities. Today, they stretch deeply into suburban and rural communities with venomous vengeance, often crushing the life out of thousands of young, old, black, white, rich and poor folks alike.

Its victims today are likely to be as diverse as the patchwork of America itself. As such, the fight to combat and control the epidemic must expand its reach and tighten its grip.

With that in mind, teachers and administrators at Howland High School caught our attention this week and merit commendation for their commitment toward lessening the scourge of opiate abuse in their quintessentially American soccer-mom suburban enclave.

On Tuesday in the high school gym, Howland’s large student body got healthy doses of shock and awe at a powerful assembly organized by teachers. It did not attempt to sugarcoat the death and devastation that opiate abuse too often creates.

There was a troubling video of a woman smashing a frying pan in a manic state breaking everything in sight, illustrating how heroin, too, can shatter friends, family members, futures and lives.

There were the empty seats representing several recent Howland High graduates who have died from overdoses.

And there were stark testimonials from a former addict and stern warnings from a law enforcement officer on how bad decision-making can yield a one-way ticket to the grave.

To those who argue that such shock therapy is ill advised for teenagers, we disagree. The high-intensity awareness program matched the high intensity destruction of the continually growing epidemic. After all, heroin deaths in communities large and small throughout the Mahoning Valley and the nation show few signs of ebbing any time soon.

WORST EPIDEMIC IN A LIFETIME

In fact, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine calls it the worst epidemic in the state in his lifetime. He recently proposed kindergarten through 12th- grade age-appropriate lessons in our public schools to address it.

Of course, Howland is not the only large suburban community in the Valley reeling from the opiate plague. Heroin and opioid overdoses have become all too commonplace in urban and rural townships throughout Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

In Boardman, the Valley’s largest suburb, Police Chief Jack Nichols has said responding to drug calls has become almost a daily occurrence.

No longer can communities of any size or makeup try to pretend they are oases from the ruin that drug addiction too often produces. Fears of bad publicity and falling property values pale in comparison to ignorance, inaction and a fatalistic march toward higher and higher casualty tolls.

If bold programs such as that presented in Howland this week can persuade even one impressionable young person to reject a life of drugs that too often leads down a path of incarceration, anguish and death, they will have been well worth the investment of time, energy and resources.