Speaking to a small crowd at First United Methodist Church on Sunday afternoon, Sheriff Gene A. Kelly explained the severity of the drug problem in Clark County.

“Since 2010, 216 people have died from drug overdoses in Clark County,” said Kelly.

Part of the problem is the willingness of doctors to prescribe strong pain killers. He told of a deputy who was injured in climbing a fence.

“He went to the Emergency Room and they described his injury as a scratch,” he said. “They gave him a tetanus shot and a prescription for antibiotics. Then they gave him a prescription for Hydrocodone - an opiate pain killer.”

Kelly also said that they have raided doctor's offices with no typewriters, no computers, only prescription pads. “You could go in, pay $50 and get whatever drug you want.”

He said that we are sending aid to Afghanistan, the largest producer of poppies, “We are protecting 390,000 acres of poppies,” said Kelly.

Mexico has found the profit available in shipping heroin to the United States, so Mexico is now growing poppies. The New York Times reported that impoverished farmers in Mexico have increased their opium production by an estimated 50% in 2014. Heroin deaths in the United States have increased 175% between 2010 and 2014.

“The majority of the heroin coming into the United States is now coming from Mexico through our porous borders,” said Kelly.

Kelly said that most of the heroin deaths are white men and women of all ages, not your stereotypical drug users. He said that many times they are prescribed opiate pain killers and get hooked on them.

He also said that heroin is cheap. “We can buy heroin pills in the north end of New Carlisle for $5,” said Kelly. “And it's not real heroin, it's Fentanyl, a synthetic heroin.”

He said that Fentanyl labs are springing up throughout the county.

“Out of the 216 deaths in Clark County, there was one black person and one latino. The rest were white,” he said.

“The most deaths are 45-50 year old white males and females.”

He said that his office recently arrested an 80-year old man in Springfield for dealing in heroin. He used a walker and was on oxygen. “What do we do, let him keep selling heroin,” asked Kelly. “No, we put him in jail. He wasn't in there long, and when he was released, he went right back to selling heroin.”

Kelly said that what we're doing now is not working. People addicted to drugs are cleaned out while in jail, and are

told that if they take the same amount of heroin that they took before they went to jail, they would die. They don't listen, though. Many are dead within 24 hours of their release.

He said that his office has started a new program called “Thinking for a Change.” Inmates who are ready to be released are asked, “Did you learn anything the last time you were here?” They write down the things that they have done and are asked if any of them are working. The goal of the program is to get drug users to realize that continuing their same activities will lead to the same results - time in jail.

Kelly related a success story involving a young woman who was recently released. She was hired at McDonalds. She has no transportation, so she walks to work. She was recently offered a management position. “She is now alive and a productive member of society, not a consumer of your tax dollars.”

Two staff members of McKinley Hall also make regular visits to the jail to counsel inmates.

He also said that they are now offering shots of Vivitrol, which makes the body immune to the high that users get from heroin. “For 30 days, they don't want the drug, and we have another 30 days to get them to change their direction,” said Kelly.