Armstrong County Sheriff Bill Rupert shares his concerns about the drug crisis with Senator Bob Casey yesterday afternoon.
The message was clear from about 30 people crammed into the Commissioners’ Conference Room yesterday for Senator Bob Casey’s round table discussion about the drug epidemic affecting our families.
“Folks in Detroit, Cleveland, and Mexico know exactly where we are. And that is where this stuff is coming from.”
That’s what District Attorney Scott Andreassi told the Senator as he asked him not to forget about rural Armstrong County and our fight to keep illegal drugs from entering our neighborhoods.
Kami Anderson who heads up the Armstrong-Indiana-Clarion Drug and Alcohol Commission gave Senator Casey the story.
“We were looking at fatal overdose rates. Compared to last year, in every one of our counties, we are on track to have less overdoses or about the same. We have finally been able to slow it down and put a cap on it,” Anderson said.
Of the three county commissioners who spoke, only Commissioner Pat Fabian has a background in the mental health field. He implored Casey to spend dollars wisely.
“It seems like there is a duplication of services. Let’s get those fundings - those dollars - back into our community resources that are already existing instead of duplicating a lot of these services,” Fabian said.
Casey agreed.
“I think a lot of people say to the federal government: ‘Don’t just give us mandates - give us dollars.’ That’s a justifiable criticism.”
ACMH Hospital CEO John Lewis said the funding needs to go into our judicial system as well as education.
“It’s consuming increasing amounts of the medical community’s time, which has nothing to do with traditional medical care. Unfortunately as now we are able to turn off the medical spigot in terms of pharmaceuticals, we are turning it off at the physician’s office level and emergency department level. So now these folks are seeking drugs on the street. And there is an interesting level of deaths that are occurring.”
District Magisterial Judge Gary DeComo, who initiated the “Drugs Kill Dreams” education program in the schools, said he sees the problem a little differently than just assisting people with recovery.
“While I respect and support and admire people in recovery, we need to have less people in recovery. How we get less people in recovery is by increasing our community prevention efforts.”
Armstrong County Court of Common Pleas Judge James Panchik was not part of the roundtable panel, but rather sat quietly in the back of the room observing. He said Senator Casey coming to Kittanning was a “big deal.”
“I think it is a wonderful thing for the County to have the Senator come here. For those of us who are old enough to remember Congressman Murtha, the more time he spent in our county, the better off we were. Having the Senator’s presence here is a big deal. I think the comments were well taken. He was attentive He understands our needs, which I think are probably the same as a lot of places. So I thought it was a huge success.”
Panchik said there are less probations and support cases because inmates are leaving the prison system and overdosing.
“I would advocate for a block on the death certificate to know exactly how many deaths we are experiencing. We hear numbers, but these are estimates.”
Career Link Administrator Marie Dillon-Griffith told Casey that the drug problem has caused a shortage of persons available for work because they can’t pass the drug test.
“We have companies now that are saying: ‘We’re not able to employ and don’t have the workforce.’ All of those individuals out there that are losing their jobs due to this opioid crisis in the workforce. They are not just in the schools. They are in the workplace. Employers are looking for help as well.”
Senator Casey has been conducting similar round tables in counties throughout the state. He anticipates using information he is gathering in a report to the Senate.
Twelve people sat with Senator Bob Casey yesterday in the Commissioners Conference Room to discuss the drug problem.