{"id":387,"date":"2014-06-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/61-attorney-general-holds-community-forum-on-drug-epidemic\/"},"modified":"2014-06-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T00:00:00","slug":"61-attorney-general-holds-community-forum-on-drug-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/61-attorney-general-holds-community-forum-on-drug-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney General Holds Community Forum On Drug Epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Says each community is responsible for creating local solutions with citizen groups.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine appeared in Springfield last Wednesday, February 12 to speak with local experts on the heroin and prescription pill epidemic sweeping through the state.<\/p>\n

The Community Open Forum was held at Springfield High School, with several representatives present from local organizations aimed at treating, preventing, and analyzing Ohio\u2019s drug abuse epidemic. DeWine said last week\u2019s Drug Abuse Community Forum was the sixth such meeting in the state, allowing State and local leaders to come together with residents in attempt to create productive methods of curbing the epidemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a heroin epidemic, and we have a prescription pill epidemic,\u201d DeWine said as he addressed the crowd. \u201cThis is killing our young people,\u201d DeWine stressed, adding that when he first began his work in public office, heroin was a problem encountered only within larger cities. \u201cYou usually wouldn\u2019t find it in rural areas or suburbs back then, but now, it\u2019s everywhere, and the related deaths continue to rise.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeWine said in 2013, nearly 900 heroin-related deaths were projected, with an equal number of deaths indirectly-relating to heroin abuse. He said most of Ohio\u2019s heroin is imported from Mexico by numerous drug cartels.<\/p>\n

Andrew Picek, Clark County Prosecuting Criminal Attorney, said that just a few weeks ago, a Springfield drug dealer was arrested with more than three kilograms of heroin in his possession. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t think Springfield to get large amounts like this, but it happens a lot,\u201d Picek said, noting that since 2011, over one million dollars in cash has been seized from area drug dealers. \u201cOur goal is to take down the top level dealers in Clark County,\u201d Picek said. \u201cWe need to break that supply chain in order to be really effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danielle Smoot, Director of Cole\u2019s Warriors, a New Carlisle-based coalition working to prevent prescription drug abuse in teens and young people, attended last week\u2019s forum, which was held on the three-year anniversary of the passing of her son Cole, for whom the organization is named. Smoot said Attorney General DeWine, with whom she has worked with closely over the years, wore a tie bearing the colors of Cole\u2019s favorite sports team, the Boston Red Sox. All of DeWine\u2019s staff in attendance also wore something blue and red in honor of the late teen\u2019s favorite team colors, as well as \u201cJohn 3:16\u201d wristbands, as the Smoot family is \u201cvery rooted in faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smoot said DeWine\u2019s camp had originally prepared a poster of Cole to present at the end of the Community Open Forum in remembrance of his life and death, yet were not able to do so in the interest of time.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kent Youngman, CEO of the Mental Health and Recovery Board serving Clark, Greene, and Madison counties attended the forum as a panelist. Youngman recognized the dangers of Ohio\u2019s heroin epidemic, but said that Clark County has seen a dramatic increase in prescription pill abuse.<\/p>\n

Youngman said between the years of 2006 and 2012, the number of Clark County residents being treated for an opiate problem rose by more than 55 percent, and that half of the individuals being treated at McKinley Hall were suffering from an opiate addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Clark County, the prescribing patterns have not changed,\u201d Youngman said. \u201cBetween October and December of 2013, and this is not a misprint, there were 2,780,843 doses of opiate pain pills prescribed in Clark County alone,\u201d Youngman said, repeating the data once more so that it could sink in. \u201cThat\u2019s enough for every man, woman, and child in our three counties to have 88 doses each.\u201d Dr. Youngman said a high correlation exists between obesity and prescription pain pill abuse, as doctors often prescribe painkillers for skeletal or muscular pain stemming from obesity instead of recommending their patient go on a different diet or develop an exercise routine.<\/p>\n

Orman Hall, Director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, said doctors walk a fine line in terms of treating genuine, crippling pain and over-prescribing when not necessary. \u201cOur doctors need to be re-educated on prescribing for chronic pain,\u201d Hall said, adding that the United States, which occupies 4.5 percent of the world\u2019s population, uses more than 99 percent of the world\u2019s hydrocodone supply, and 61 percent of the world\u2019s opiate cache.<\/p>\n

Attorney General DeWine asked Pat Banszak, Director of Family and Youth Initiatives, what programs she and Smoot had implemented in Clark County that had provided positive results. Banaszak said education had proven to be key among preventing drug abuse in youths, and that she and Smoot will continue to work together with Cole\u2019s Warriors and Clark County High School students in spreading the message about the effects of substance abuse problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Says each community is responsible for creating local solutions with citizen groups. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine appeared in Springfield last Wednesday, February 12 to speak with local experts on the heroin and prescription pill epidemic sweeping through the state. The Community Open Forum was held at Springfield High School, with several representatives present from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}