A Public Tragedy –
December 15, 2019 – Then it became evident to many moms of addicted children that they had to speak out, bluntly. There seemed to be no other way to stop this massive public health crisis. This was the precursor to my current heroin beat, in 2012 and 2013. Yes, the opioid epidemic had been snaking through our communities for about a dozen years, but this was when accidental overdose deaths started outnumbering traffic fatalities. Many simply could not believe it was happening here. A young man overdosed in his girlfriend’s bedroom in a lavish home in Boone County and when paramedics rang the doorbell, the adults there were dumbfounded. Overdose here? No. This, it seemed, was the beginning of a tumult of deaths of our neighbors. The beginning is what it felt like, even though one dead young man’s mom in Northern Kentucky had been crying out for help for more than a decade already. First, for her son. Then, for others’ sons and daughters.
