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Writer suggests heroin problem in Clay County
To the editor:
Clay County,
You have a problem. A problem that has been plaguing counties across Indiana for years and has claimed too many young lives. Clay County: You have a heroin problem.
While I could get into the wildly popular debate over whether addiction is a disease or a choice, that’s not my purpose for this letter. The sad truth is that in the time both sides have explained their position on this issue, a handful of people will have already died of a heroin overdose. Arguing the principle of addiction doesn’t save lives. And neither does living in denial. The Indiana State Health Department reported that between 2011 and 2015, there was one fatal opiate overdose in Clay County. One in four years is below the state average even though the state as a whole saw a 60 percent increase in that same for years. However, the numbers for Clay County for 2016 and 2017 only promise to be grim.
Clay County: you have a problem and it is time to acknowledge it. It’s time for your county officials to adopt models from other similar counties who are having success in addressing this horrid epidemic. It’s time that this no longer be a hushed conversation and it is time that we consider the lives lost because of heroin to be more than people who just died unexpectedly.
Clay County: It’s time to speak up. To your elected officials, to your community, and especially to your loved ones. It is being bold enough to have those tough conversations that begins the solution and ultimately saves lives.