May 24, 2012
WEST PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (WSAZ) -- Jo Anna Krohn doesn't visit her son's grave as often as she used to; times have changed.
"I feel him around me everywhere," Krohn says. "It lifts me up knowing he's still a part of my life."
Jo Anna's son died as a result of prescription drug abuse. It'll be four years ago this April. Now, in Scioto County, the news about those type of deaths is improving.
Last year, 20 deaths were directly related to drugs -- 11 deaths labeled as drug-related. If you track the numbers in 2010, you can see the improvement. There were 24 deaths directly related to drugs, and 19 others considered drug related.
'It's really really too soon to tell if it's going to be a trend" says Lisa Roberts with the Portsmouth City Health Department. "It is the first time in over a decade there as been a reduction, and that is certainly promising."
Roberts says since 1997, there has been a direct correlation between
distribution rates and overdose death rates.
But in the past few years, there have been great strides in trying to clamp down on local pill mils. In December of 2011, a local pain clinic was shut down -- Ohio's Attorney General declaring it the last pill mill in Scioto County.
At her son's grave site, Krohn says, "I think it sends a huge message just that the doctors, the sentencing they're getting -- that has to send a message. You know, why would anyone else come here and set up a clinic with what's happened?"
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