Portman: Ohio among top states for heroin, fentanyl abuse; Mahoning Valley leads

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman says more must be done to fight the heroin and prescription drug epidemic.

Portman, a Republican from the Cincinnati area, visited the Neil Kennedy Recovery Center on the city’s South Side today to discuss the drug crisis.

“Ohio has become one of the top states in the country for heroin, prescription drugs and now fentanyl – which is a synthetic heroin – overdoses and deaths, and the Mahoning Valley is, unfortunately, about 20 percent ahead of the rest of the state in terms of those same grim statistics,” Portman said.

Portman’s Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act – CARA – signed into law last year, authorizes $181 million annually for programs aimed at strengthening prevention, treatment and recovery services.

Portman also introduced two bills to help prevent drug abuse.

One proposal requires parcels sent through the U.S. Postal Service from overseas to collect information in digital form. Drug traffickers, he said, are mailing fentanyl and other drugs through the mail.

Read more about the situation and his remarks in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.