Heroin epidemic requires collaboration on all fronts

We agree with the assessment of Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan — and other local leaders — that the best likely answer to reverse the heroin epidemic besieging the area is to mount a collaborative effort involving law enforcement, schools, counselors and families.

A “Heroin Summit” was held at UNC Asheville this spring, when local officials took the first important step toward solving this particular recreational drug abuse problem — recognizing that it exists.

Taking it to the wider community, Duncan addressed the local heroin issue on Aug. 5 during a Council of Independence Business Owners meeting, where he noted that heroin “has become Buncombe County’s most deadly drug issue... We’ve seen more overdoses, we’ve seen more arrests and we’ve seen more people trafficking in it.” (Buncombe recorded 12 unintentional heroin poisoning deaths in 2014, up from three in 2013 and none in 2012.)

The sheriff said the uptick in reported heroin overdose poisoning incidents started about three years ago in Buncombe. Duncan also emphasized to CIBO that law enforcement cannot “arrest our way” out of the problem, as it involves the complex issue of addiction. 

A better way, as Duncan wisely said, is to “have things that impact people at an earlier stage — and really try to deter them from going down a bad path.”