Editing Portsmouth, Ohio (section)

=== Response to the opioid epidemic ===
In the late 1990s, an [[Opioid epidemic in the United States|opioid epidemic]] of prescription drug abuse swept the region.<ref name="PLAINDEALER">{{cite news |author=Aaron Marshall |date=February 28, 2011 |title=Young lives wrecked by prescription drug epidemic in Southern Ohio |newspaper=[[The Plain Dealer]] |url=http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/young_lives_wrecked_by_prescri.html |access-date=2011-04-12}}</ref> This caused an accelerated increase in social instability and crime.<ref>{{cite news |author=Aaron Marshall |date=February 26, 2011 |title=Prescription drug epidemic brings Southern Ohio county to its knees |newspaper=[[The Plain Dealer]] |url=http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/prescription_drug_epidemic_bri.html |access-date=2011-04-13 |quote=Statistics as bleak as tombstones back up Roberts' apocalyptic talk: The county has seen a 360 percent increase in accidental drug-overdose deaths and has the highest hepatitis C rate in Ohio, a rate that has nearly quadrupled in the past five years}}</ref><ref name="DISPATCH">{{cite news |author=Holly Zachariah |date=February 7, 2010 |title=Illegal prescription-drug trade now epidemic |newspaper=[[The Columbus Dispatch]] |url=http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/02/07/OXYCONTIN.ART_ART_02-07-10_A1_HGGH7K4.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2010-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213122201/http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/02/07/OXYCONTIN.ART_ART_02-07-10_A1_HGGH7K4.html |archive-date=February 13, 2010 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Randy Yohe |title=Violent Crime Wave Has Portsmouth Police Overwhelmed |publisher=[[WSAZ-TV]] |url=http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/PROOF_Violent_Crime_Wave_Has_Portsmouth_Police_Overwhelmed_114754339.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2011-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131225155/http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/PROOF_Violent_Crime_Wave_Has_Portsmouth_Police_Overwhelmed_114754339.html |archive-date=2011-01-31 |quote=A midday armed bank robbery in Portsmouth happened while we were covering at least two other felony investigations. A string of assaults and home invasions – and, what police say is a drug fueled double kidnapping.}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |author=Gary Cohen |date=February 4, 2001 |title=The "Poor Man's Heroin":An Ohio surgeon helps feed a growing addiction to OxyContin |url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/010212/archive_005430.htm |url-status=dead |magazine=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019192239/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/010212/archive_005430.htm |archive-date=October 19, 2012 |access-date=2011-04-12 |quote=Last year, about the time Lilly started his pain clinic, local police noticed that drug-related crimes in Portsmouth had started to rise. Burglaries alone had increased 20 percent from the year before. For a period of about three months, police records show, homes or pharmacies were being broken into and robbed of prescription drugs almost daily. A Scioto County sheriff's deputy was arrested for stealing painkillers; a man tried to rob a pharmacy of OxyContin; and home break-in reports show the only things stolen were cash and pills. At the same time, pharmacists were noticing scores of seemingly healthy young men coming in with prescriptions for OxyContin. |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Frank Lewis |date=February 1, 2011 |title=Horner talks about crime wave |newspaper=The Portsmouth Daily Times |url=http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/view/full_story/11194123/article-Horner-talks-about-crime-wave?instance=secondary_news_left_column |url-status=dead |access-date=2011-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929144958/http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/view/full_story/11194123/article-Horner-talks-about-crime-wave?instance=secondary_news_left_column |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> One of the most prevalent drugs was [[oxycodone]], a synthetic [[opiate]] known colloquially as ''oxy.''

In May 2011, the [[Ohio Senate]] and House unanimously passed a bill cracking down on [[pill mill]]s (signed into law by [[John Kasich]]) authored by Portsmouth's state representative [[Terry Johnson (Ohio politician)|Terry Johnson]].<ref>{{cite news |date=May 17, 2011 |title=Senate passes pain clinic legislation; Kasich could sign into law this week |newspaper=[[Portsmouth Daily Times]] |url=http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/view/full_story/13306953/article-Senate-passes-pain-clinic-legislation--Kasich-could-sign-into-law-this-week?instance=secondary_stories_left_column |url-status=dead |access-date=2011-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929145135/http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/view/full_story/13306953/article-Senate-passes-pain-clinic-legislation--Kasich-could-sign-into-law-this-week?instance=secondary_stories_left_column |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Frank Lewis |date=May 21, 2011 |title=Pill mill crackdown: Kasich signs House Bill 93 to regulate pain clinics |newspaper=[[Portsmouth Daily Times]] |url=http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/view/full_story/13354818/article-Pill-mill-crackdown--Kasich-signs-House-Bill-93-to-regulate-pain-clinics?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column |url-status=dead |access-date=2011-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929145247/http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/view/full_story/13354818/article-Pill-mill-crackdown--Kasich-signs-House-Bill-93-to-regulate-pain-clinics?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, the [[Drug Enforcement Administration|DEA]] and state and local law enforcement agencies worked to identify and shut down a pharmacy and several doctors who had prescribed hundreds of thousands of opiates over a two-year period<ref name="WSAZ">{{cite news |date=May 17, 2011 |title=BREAKING NEWS: Federal Agents Search Wheelersburg Doctor's Office |publisher=[[WSAZ-TV]] |url=http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/BREAKING_NEWS_Federal_Agesnts_Serach_Wheelersburg_Doctors_Office_122004049.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2011-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520001522/http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/BREAKING_NEWS_Federal_Agesnts_Serach_Wheelersburg_Doctors_Office_122004049.html |archive-date=May 20, 2011}}</ref> by suspending their [[medical license|license to practice medicine]].

In a 2019 investigative story, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that [[fentanyl]] was replacing [[oxycodone]] as the preferred opioid.<ref>{{cite web |author=Editorial staff |date=2019-05-21 |title=What Are the Differences between Oxycodone and Fentanyl? |url=https://lagunatreatment.com/fentanyl-abuse/vs-oxycodone/ |access-date=2019-05-24 |work=Laguna Treatment Hospital}}</ref>