Should health agencies in the Mahoning Valley give needles to addicts? – The Vindictor

By Tim Rudell

The Mahoning Valley, one of Ohio’s hardest hit areas in the ongoing opioid crisis, is looking for solutions to all the problems that come with the addictive painkillers.

Deaths in Trumbull and Mahoning counties doubled in two years, from 2014 to 2016, and Trumbull by itself has a death rate that is seventh highest in Ohio, which is one of the worst states in the nation.

For every death, there may be hundreds of people using needles to inject the mind-numbing substances daily, as much to avoid the gut-wrenching effects of withdrawal as for the momentary high.