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. That crisis was brought into a harsh spotlight recently thanks to a photo of two Ohioans who nearly died from their heroin use.
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.