Since 2017 and to a degree in previous years, the opioid epidemic has been widespread across the United States. In Middletown, Ohio, the crisis has impacted the city in more ways than one. “City officials said the battle to fight the heroin and opioid epidemic cost taxpayers more than $2.3 million in 2017,” according to a Journal-News report.
The report also mentioned that this price essentially shifts resources away from other necessary obligations, “such as effort to prevent other crime or the ability to respond to a medical emergency elsewhere in the city.” $2.3 million is the price expectancy for 2018 for Middletown in regards to how much resources go towards the opioid crisis compared to recent years. “There were 966 overdoes reported in Middletown for 2017, which was up from the 532 reported in 2016,” the Journal-News report stated.
Multiple solutions have come around in the last couple of years in order to help contain the epidemic.
“More enforcement with additional K-9s and four more detectives, going after nuisance addresses, deploying a Heroin Response Team to get people who overdose into some type of treatment program, education programs, needle exchanges and partnering with drug enforcement units from Butler and Warren county sheriff’s offices,” Journal-News report listed.
A cost breakdown of how much the opioid crisis has impacted Middletown and its’ citizens can also be found here.
