Oct 27, 2017 By Jon Stevens for The 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Greene Countians may be seeing a lot more of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, and that’s not a bad thing considering the opioid epidemic is tightening its deadly grip in rural counties.

Shapiro met with a host of local officials last week at Waynesburg University’s Stover Center to discuss the county’s problems, needs and perceptions of the heroin and opioid scourge.

“I have spent great deal of time in rural Pennsylvania because these are the regions hardest hit by the epidemic,” he said. “Maybe not raw numbers but proportionately and they are oftentimes communities under served by medical treatment and law enforcement, so the more time I can spend here understanding the challenge, the better,” Shapiro said.

The attorney general’s visit, which occurred the same day President Donald Trump declared the opioid abuse epidemic a nationwide “public health emergency,” is part of his ambitious effort to visit all 67 counties din Pennsylvania to get a better handle on just how pervasive the drug problem is across the state.

Earlier in the day, Shapiro testified before the Center for Rural Pennsylvania in Williamsport.

He addressed collaborative law enforcement, prescription drug anti-diversion efforts and community-based prevention through the disposal of unused prescription medication.

Shapiro touched on several of those items while addressing members of the roundtable that included the three county commissioners, Sheriff Brian Tennant, Coroner Greg Rohanna, state Sen. Camera Bartolotta and state Rep. Pam Snyder, District Attorney Marjorie Fox, representatives from various law enforcement agencies, Karen Bennett, the county’s director of human services; and Kira Sisk, the director of the county’s drug and alcohol program.

What Shapiro took away from this event was that law enforcement, community health providers and local elected officials, “seated around the table, all having different jobs but saying the same thing – there is a need for more treatment and more help for these individuals,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro said his office has arrested more than three drug dealers a day on average since taking office 10 months ago. He has partnered with law enforcement to destroy more than 33 tons of drugs, and has worked with the insurance industry to expand access to drug treatment.

Yet, he said the magnitude of the problem is less about statistics and more about people. “I heard loud and clear today there is not enough personnel, not enough treatment beds and not enough alternative meds available. These are all things we are addressing,” he said.

After the event, Snyder offered a unique idea that medical cannabis (marijuana) could make an impact. “If someone can have medical cannabis that is not addictive, is not a narcotic for pain, they don’t need that opioid prescription,” she said.

Snyder said fighting this problem will take a lot of people coming together. “We can’t arrest it away; we can’t treat it away; we have to have a compilation of a lot of things, perhaps beginning with educating our kids. We have been successful getting into the schools and I think we need to continue that,” she said.

“I just remember when I was a teenager my parents locked the liquor cabinet. Now, parents have to start locking the medicine cabinet.”