By Crime and Justice News | December 12, 2019

Cincinnati Enquirer drug reporter Terry DeMio writes about her years covering the opioid epidemic. In 2012, the opioid epidemic had been snaking through local communities for about a dozen years, but this was when accidental overdose deaths started outnumbering traffic fatalities. What about fentanyl? Its been on the streets about half as long as DeMio has had this beat. Part of that catastrophe came from another synthetic opiate that was new to the streets, carfentanil. An expert told DeMio it was a large-animal opioid. Horse? she asked. Elephant, he said. The Enquirer dubbed it the elephant opioid, which was picked up by national and international media.

Meanwhile, cops and medics were taking care of little children whose parents were not waking up when the children found them. One child in our region called a relative to say his parents seemed frozen at the dinner table. They were dead from an overdose. There is progress now, DeMio says.More people are recognizing the threat of addiction and how it can happen to anyone and that there is no place for discrimination and bias against these victims of a chronic health condition. Theres a nod to the need for more recovery support. Certified peer mentors help guide people in recovery. More programs try to keep families together by providing in-home care. Overdose deaths, for the first time in years, dropped in Ohio and Kentucky in 2018. The outcry for help from the opioid-epidemic warriors the people living the nightmare has been heard.

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Covering The Opioid Beat: 'There is Progress' - Crime Report