January 16, 2014 at 4:20 p.m.
It is our problem
Dane County, you are not alone.
We have been trying to tell our readers that the problem is here, in Dodgeville, in Mineral Point, and throughout Iowa County.
Just a week ago we had a front page story about an arrest of a heroin supplier where his users suffered overdoses. That person is not just a scary picture that ran in our paper. He is someone who is wrecking lives of others or maybe more appropriately, helping them wreck their own lives.
We could go on and on about the problem or we could advocate for a solution.
Recently there was money provided to help fight the heroin addiction problem in Madison. That money was used for tv spots, confessions of suppliers, users with many of them serving prison time. At best, that is a start. It is an attempt to educate but it falls short.
We have a good drug task force working in our area, a collective effort of several counties. But the resources they are provided are limited.
We would like to see some money found in our state budget that goes to those who are in the field, helping fight the problem. In fact, we would like to see a lot of money used that way.
Since we have been working on the series we have run about the heroin problem in our area we have been told many stories about people affected by the addiction.
There are no winners here.
It is our opinion that we have to find money to help those who are charged with getting the suppliers off the street. And we have to find money to fund programs to help those who need help as they attempt to become clean again.
It is a problem.
It is our problem.
It is our problem to solve.
