OPIATE ADDICTION PROBLEMS COSTING COUNTY THOUSANDS

LANCASTER -- Fairfield County Commissioner Steve Davis declared war on
the county's opiate drug addiction problem at Tuesday's State of the
County luncheon.

"We're asking the sheriff for enforcement ideas," he said. "I've asked
juvenile (court) judge Steve Williams how we could better address the
problem from the juvenile court standpoint and we've asked Job and
Family Services what we can do to stem the tide of addiction."

Saying the commission must do all it can to fight opiate drug abuse,
he said the commissioners will give a higher priority to the drug
problem when devising the 2012 budget.

"Sometimes you hear people say that we have to decide between the
sheriff's office and Job and Family Services," Davis said. "But there
are other choices, too. We can do our level best to fund both of those
organizations and make cuts elsewhere."

However, commission president Mike Kiger has named Job and Family
Services as a possible target should the county have to make cuts
because of the anticipated loss of $2.2 million in state revenue in
2012 and 2013.

Commissioner Judy Shupe said the county budgeted $300,000 for inmate
medical costs this year and spent $1 million in 2010 to house prisoner
outside of the county. She said drugs were a major reason for those
costs.

"The price that we're paying out of our general fund every year has
gone too high," Davis said. "We're already in the game whether we want
to be or not. We've laid out a number of goals today, and I'm anxious
to get started on them. We will continue to receive feedback from the
community and from those who work for us on how best we can address
this."

He said the state budget cuts could slow down the fight,
though.

"So it's going to be a process," Davis said. "But even the commission
addressing it the way we did today is a huge step in the right direction."

Davis called the drug problem "a nemesis that is tearing at the very
fabric of our society."

"Interdiction and enforcement are huge in preventing the drugs from
getting here in the first place," he said. "We need additional
education with our children to make sure they are making as good of
choices as they can make."

Davis said Fairfield Medical Center is working with doctors on the
prescription end of the opiate problem.

"So I'm hopeful that we can do our part too," he said. "We're trying
to figure out what that is, but I think the first step is
recognition."