Ohio’s attorney general has been doing events around the state in the last few weeks, to bring more awareness to the state’s drug opioid epidemic.
And that crisis was brought into a harsh spotlight recently thanks to a photo of two Ohioans who nearly died from their heroin use. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler talked to the AG about that.
Mike DeWine says he has mixed feelings about the East Liverpool police photo that went viral, featuring a couple overdosing on heroin in a van with a four year old buckled in a seat behind them.
“I think it drives home the reality of what heroin is. If you can hear this, you have a heroin problem in your community because every community in the state of Ohio has a heroin problem. Second, though, we want to be able to get people into treatment.”
DeWine says there’s a need for more drug education every year from kindergarten through high school and communities need to form grassroots efforts to battle the opioid crisis – but says no state is doing fighting it very well.