43
State takes steps to reduce drug overdoses, Ohio official tells Vindy
YOUNGSTOWN
Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor said Ohio is “probably the hot-bed of opioid” overdoses.
While Taylor said the state is taking steps to reduce the number of unintentional drug overdoses, which is on the rise, she doesn’t have a reason why it’s hitting Ohio particularly hard.
“I don’t know if I have an answer to that,” she said Wednesday during a meeting with The Vindicator’s editorial board. “It could be that we’re centrally located and easy access” for drug trafficking, adding that Ohio is “the crossroads to America.”
Taylor, a Republican, added: “I don’t know if there’s any other theories around why Ohio. I think that’s part of the reason that we’re not able to track down” drug dealers.
A report last week shows that the number of unintentional drug overdoses in the state rose to 3,050 last year. It was 2,531 in 2104 and 2,110 in 2013. The number has risen annually since 2009.
“I’ve talked to national experts on the subject, and they say based on statistics that Ohio is pretty knee-deep in addiction,” Taylor said.
The state has closed “pill mills,” doctors who freely give prescriptions for opioids to people, she said. Taylor said 81 million fewer opioids are dispensed today since January 2011, and 1.4 million fewer prescriptions for pain pills have been written in Ohio between 2012 and 2014.
But plenty more needs to be done, such as having more facilities to treat those with drug addictions, limit the number of high-volume prescriptions of opioids and doing background checks on pharmacy technicians to make sure they all “have the right level of competency,” Taylor said.
“We need to figure out what’s the strategy to get this done,” she said, adding that not only elected officials, but faith-based and community leaders, educators, parents and others are needed to stress to kids not to take drugs.
When asked about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Taylor said: “I appreciate that he’s been more scripted to the message that I believe is starting to resonate with people. I said from the beginning that after we learned he would be our nominee that he needs to focus on the things that people care about: the economy and jobs, and national security. Where he’s given speeches recently he does seem to be more focused on that and less on the rhetoric. I personally believe for him to be successful in Ohio, that’s what he needs to do, and I think that’s going to help him.”