Ohio

Solving Heroin Problem Requires New Approach, Local Resources

Posted on March 7, 2016 by CharlieClaywell

24809370421_807e410de0_zNote: This is part of a year-long series where I look at the events, issues, problems and successes in my corner of America and see how they compare with the country as a whole.

Billboards about Vivitrol, heroin and drug counselling dot the landscape throughout my region of the country. This invasion of unhealthy drug use has impacted many families in Preble County and beyond. The stories of tragedy feel endless — from permanently disabled overdose survivors to teenagers who don’t survive.

In the Sunday, Feb. 21 Dayton Daily News B-section centerpiece story, the reporter tells of a 36-year-old heroin overdose survivor who can no longer walk or eat on his own. As the mother, and others, tell their stories of personal struggles, the mom’s words reveal just how much heroin altered her life.

She says,

My day starts at 6 a.m. I dry him, tube feed him and turn him every two hours…. He understands everything you say. He gives me a thumbs up. That’s how he communicates with me.

These tragic stories, and the sheer number of victims and addicts, has many local officials fighting back — trying to reverse the trend. A Kettering judge, tired of the traditional, ineffective legal approach to dealing with heroin addiction, noted,

We’re not solving the problem by sticking them (heroin addicts) in jail for six months. We’re solving the problem by educating them on ways to get their lives back together, Kettering Municipal Court Judge Jim Long said, the paper reported.

This educational approach is also being used by various agencies in the rural county of 40,000 where I live.

Heroin Arrests Double In My County

Recently my hometown paper, The Register-Herald, ran an article about a drug awareness program conducted at a local high school. The program highlighted how deeply heroin is embedded in my community.

The paper reported,

According to members of the Preble County Sheriff’s Office, heroin, along with methamphetamines and abuse of prescription pills remains common in Preble County. Heroin arrests have more than doubled in Preble County since 2012, having overtaken meth, meth labs and prescription pill arrests, according to official reports.

Plenty of disturbing facts exist in that one quote — including meth and prescription drug abuse apparently being a normal, everyday problem for the community — but as the article further states officials are beginning to see some payoff for their work.

…(a) former user told (Preble County Sheriff Mike) Simpson the amount of drugs she sees and is exposed to in Preble County since returning from her time in rehab is well below the amount she was experiencing while using the drug some 8 months ago.

No Man Is An Island

Because of Preble’s close proximity to Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, Preble County and southwest Ohio is one of the hardest hit areas in the state and the epidemic has spilled across the border into Indiana affecting the very young. In the past year, 54 babies were born addicted to heroin in Wayne County (Ind.), one official noted.

With children being born with a heroin addiction — is it actually possible that a long-term solution is being hampered by governmental policies and inaction?

United Methodist Church Pastor Scott Bell says local resources are a key to recovery because once a person is hooked on the drug, breaking the grip requires a vigorous commitment.

They need to be in counseling for at least a year,” Bell said. “They need to settle into a more constructive life. They can be weaned onto the pill form of the drug, but the psychological addiction never goes away. It’s difficult because the treatment centers are all gone. The government stopped funding them.

Solution Requires Local Facilities

Without adequate funding, treatment centers don’t exist and long-term solutions do not happen.

In impoverished regions of the country, like Preble County (pdf), the burden of care and recovery is cast onto the addicted — people unable to buy their way into treatment and health. Regardless of one’s personal beliefs on why or how a person becomes addicted, the heroin epidemic is a societal problem and requires public funds to solve it.

This means national, state and local politicians must reach across the proverbial aisle, compromise and deliver solid programs to undo the damage.

Without local treatment options, the health of the community — and the lives of some of its citizens — are at stake.

In America

Although Ohio is dealing with a heroin epidemic, it is not the only state. According to Yahoo News, Ohio ranks 10th on the list of states with a heroin problem. The neighboring states of Kentucky and Indiana rank higher. According to the report, 10,574 people age 12 and older overdosed on the drug in 2014 (latest numbers available) — a substantial increase from 10 years earlier when 2,089 individuals died.

It is also a problem in West Virginia, the state that borders Ohio to the east, as former West Virginia State Senator David Grubb explained last fall when President Barack Obama held a community forum there. Grubb noted that one of his daughters was introduced to heroin in 2009 and said she almost died from an overdose — her fourth — in August, 2015. His wife and he hope, Grubb said, that the August overdose would be the one that led to a successful treatment.

Talking to the crowd, Grubb said,

We are full of hope. But we understand the pain — the pain in this room, the pain the families feel.  The concern we have is access — where do you get the treatment?  How do you get the treatment?

my-hometownMy Hometown: An Outsider’s View From Inside Boehner’s Congressional District

For 25 years one of the most powerful GOP leaders, former Speaker of the House John Boehner, was my Congressman. In My Hometown, I blend statistical evidence with personal stories as I seek to understand how my hometown descended from the thriving community of my childhood to an impoverished area dealing with a heroin epidemic. The eBook opens with the story of William Bruce, the man who founded Eaton, Ohio, and compares Bruce’s concepts of government and community to the methods believed and practiced today.

Categories: 8th congressional district, Current Events, My America, Ohio | Tags: , , ,

The Lure Of A Good Book & Bookstore

Posted on November 30, 2015 by CharlieClaywell

22651439113_88b420ce71_zIf you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ve figured out that books are a huge part of my world. I love to read. Books have a way of introducing a world beyond our reach, presenting new ideas, repudiating old ones — and sometimes just filling our time with a great story.

Of course, in the Internet age, the most common way to acquire these books is by buying them online, which is a shame.

Buying books online, although convenient, robs the buyer of the ability to browse, peruse and in general sample books in a determined, yet casual way that pixels can’t emulate. Online buying takes away the ability to glance at the other books on a nearby shelf and see if a book ‘over there’ is more appealing. Online effectively removes the element of chance and the role that chance plays in securing the perfect read.

Independent Book Stores

Stores that deal in the obscure, collectible or hard-to-find book have been always been my favorite. Although the names of the many establishments I have visited escape my memory, bookstores and the rarities they house have punctuated many trips — from the small, out-of-the-way store in Newport, Rhode Island, to the mammoth store in Columbus, Ohio with its room-after-book-filled-room of reading materials.

I recently discovered a new store, one that is close and convenient. Located in Tipp City, Browse Awhile Books with its casual organizing style encourages hours of browsing. Located on the right wall as you walk into the store is a collection of Mark Twain books — a collection of about 20 hard-back vintage classics — with familiar titles like Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer and less well-known novels like Puddin’ Head Wilson. The books are a reminder of when literature, like Twain’s, addressed that uncomfortable reality that all of us are flawed, societies fail and even a perfect world like the garden of Eden was doomed from the beginning (Eve’s Diary).

But the store is more than books from Twain or other literary figures, included in the store’s mix are modern books like Men Are From Mars, government pamphlets, scholarly works from multiple eras as well as romances, westerns and young adult. There is even an entire room dedicated to science fiction. For me, the sheer volume of books show how little I know. As I glance across the titles and authors, though, I find inspiration in knowing how much I can learn by devoting a small segment of time every day to a subject — any subject.

Chance Finding

Just up the road from the Tipp City store is another favorite source of mine for books — Goodwill. In a world of strange coincidences offset by orderly design, the books in Goodwill call out to me in a different fashion — by title, cover design or juxtaposition. Here I often find books outside my normal reading scope of American history or American politics. Today is no different. Sandwiched between Love and Hate in Jamestown (which I bought) and Lord of the Flies (which I bought for my daughter) is a book about the art of furniture making. This paperback book — printed in 1980 by the Popular Mechanics Company — is a three-part book filled with designs and techniques for building Mission Furniture. The book explains everything from the advanced skills required to bend and curve wood into intricate pieces of furniture to simpler, almost beginner patterns for a window chair, book trough and hall bench.

Although I know spending time with any book is not such a bad hobby, I’m learning that neither is reading a book about furniture making. In some ways, the second approach is better than the first since I get to do what I love — read — while also expanding my life’s experience.

For me, it’s a win-win.

Trivia

Tipp CityBefore it was renamed, in 1938, Tipp City was known as Tippecanoe. Tippecanoe was part of a presidential slogan that brought Ohioan William Henry Harrison (Old Tippecanoe) to the White House. Harrison, the first candidate to actively campaign for the presidency had a catchy slogan: Tippecanoe and Tyler too. Some historians claim the slogan was one of the most memorable in U.S. history. Catchy or not, it did not help much with Harrison’s actual presidency since he died just a month after taking office.

Categories: Ohio | Tags:

Is Ohio The Lynch Pin For U.S. Marijuana Legalization?

Posted on October 26, 2015 by CharlieClaywell

In a clever strategic move, Responsible Ohio chose an off-year election for placing marijuana legislation on the ballot in an effort to avoid partisanship at the polls. In another calculated move, the organization, with close ties to Democratic operatives and leadership, celebrities, sports figures and influential business owners, chose Ohio because, as a purple state, it is considered representative of Midwestern values.

Several polls and agencies are predicting the legalization will pass, but some, like New Frontier, predict a bumpy ride to the actual production and legal consumption by Ohioans.

…even if Ohio voters choose to legalize cannabis, the state would still face significant hurdles establishing a regulated market. All other states that have legalized adult use to date had previously passed marijuana laws at least 10 years prior to legalization. Ohio’s lack of experience will create a steep learning curve for the state, the agency stated.
Another possible reason for selecting Ohio as the battleground is the state’s aging population. According to MoneyTalks News, in recent years the use of marijuana has doubled in the United States and the group with the most significant increase in use is people 45 years and older.

This works well for proponents since the median age in Ohio is 39 and the state’s 65 year and older population is trending upward. In 2012, the Toledo Blade reported Ohio’s 65 and older segment at more than 11 million —  or 14 percent of the state’s population — while a 2014 Census projection puts it at 16 percent. The 2010 Census reports that Ohio’s 45-64 age group represents 28 percent of the state’s population.

In addition to the increase in usage, though, is the increase in dependency on marijuana. MoneyTalk News further reports,

Among all adults who use marijuana, the prevalence of what psychiatrists call a marijuana-use disorder (loosely described as “abuse” or “dependence” in the study) also increased…Researchers note that the increased prevalence of such disorders can be explained by the increased number of marijuana users in the United States.

Responsible Ohio projects the value of the marijuana industry around $2 billion which New Frontier asserts overstates the market by about one-half billion dollars.

Categories: Ohio