Figures released Saturday by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office showed how heroin use has
been running a big tab for taxpayers forced to deal with those who use the drug.
In 2003, Fairfield County spent about $350,000 housing people addicted to heroin and other
opiates, according to Sheriff Dave Phalen. He told 10TV News reporter Andy Hirsch that the cost
approached $2.5 million in 2008.
Phalen estimated drug users account for 85 percent of the county's theft-related crimes.
And according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, authorities in central Ohio made one
arrest for heroin trafficking in 2002. In 2007, they made 26 such arrests.
As a parent of four, Matt Hooks described Fairfield County as a great place to raise a
family.
"It's not like it's New York or, no offense to Columbus . This is a small town community,"
Hooks said.
But locked behind the bars of the Fairfield County jail, a picture of how heroin abuse is
growing out of control in the county has developed.
Phalen said he has not seen anything similar since his days as a Columbus police officer,
when crack cocaine first hit the streets.
"For the first time, we saw crack houses. We saw drive-by shootings. So this has some very
similar dynamics to what we saw in Columbus in the late 1970s, early 1980s," Phalen recalled.
One of the problems is how easy it is to find heroin, according to Paul Coleman. He is
president and chief executive officer for Maryhaven, a substance abuse treatment facility in
Columbus .
"One patient at Maryhaven told us recently that it's as easy to get heroin as a six pack of
beer," Coleman said.
Alexa Coll, a recovering drug addict at Grace Haven Home in Lancaster , told Hirsch she has
seen that level of availability first hand.
"You could just go walk down the middle of the street if you wanted to, and you could
probably run into somebody who uses who could get it for you," Coll said.
The news shocked Hooks. He said he always figured heroin was not a problem he would ever have
to worry about in Lancaster .
"That's amazing. That's unbelievable to me," said Hooks. "The community it's going to it's
not going to grow, It's not going to prosper. It's just going to stay the way it is. And that's
pretty sad for the community."
At the end of August, Fairfield County officials will tour what's called a day reporting
center in Franklin , Pennsylvania . Drug abusers who fit certain criteria report there on a daily
basis for status checks, treatment and education. But they are not jailed.
Such a reporting center is an option Phalen said he would like the county to consider.
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