Just last month, here in Cuyahoga County, the medical examiner registered at least 60 overdose deaths, more than any other single month in county history.
With the narrative becoming impossible to ignore, NBC Nightly News offers us this dispatch from Wayne Township, Ohio, near Cincinnati. Watch the video below.
Roger Winemiller has lost a daughter and a son to heroin — and his other son, Roger T. Winemiller, remains an active heroin addict seeking help.
The report concludes with the younger Winemiller being driven to an outpatient treatment center, where he receives counseling and doses of Suboxone. He tells NBC Nightly News that he’s feeling optimistic, a bittersweet departure from the chain of tragedy that led him to this point.
“I look forward to the future for the first time in a long time,” Roger T. Winemiller says.
This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2017.
Prayers
My cousin, who lives in another state, called me yesterday. He apparently saw this report,and his question was “Why are people in Ohio more stupid than folks anywhere else?”
I couldn’t come up with a good answer. So what is it? Despair? Because so many lives suck and there are no jobs and no hope of finding any and these unprepared people are permanently gonna be left behind to rot and starve? Is that the reason for all this?
I used to think it was just dumb hillbilly trailer trash down in southern Ahia, or fools in the hood, but this is a state with so much amazing diversity…and it’s happening everywhere. So WTF IS the answer? Can anyone tell me in a coherent short-answer essay? Please? That graphic with the shape of the state and the Ohio flag and the hypo? Sad beyond words. What a waste of humanity, not to mention another black eye for the Buckeye State.
Chuckles the Clown
9 people in 2015 isnt horrible.
It’s poverty and lack of education.
I am raising my grandkids because of it,,, and there are many grandparents like me. Our drug laws are part of the problem.
Lock them up. that’s what Greg White did with crackheads. Oh wait that is because most crack heads were black.
It’s because of our geographic location in the country. The cartels send the dope to Cincinnati and Dayton to be cut with fentanyl and carfentanyl then distributed to Detroit Chicago Philadelphia etc. Educate yourself clown… You sound extremely pathetic and ignorant. This is the number one cause of death in our country.. not just Ohio
As a recovering addict myself it’s not cause of lack of education or poverty cause news flash drugs are not cheap! I personally know this family and that’s just 2 out of the 15 people I knew who has died in the past year alone of an overdose. This is a sad time in our tiny community all because it’s easier to stay high then deal with the withdrawls.
Do you people really think Ohio has a monopoly on the Heroin epidemic?? This shit is EVERYWHERE
Newsflash, Fake Clown, Ohio is only “The Heart of It All ” for the EAST. So why isn’t there a western state where this same shit (and it’s nine deaths DAILY, not YEARLY, for that other clown) is happening?
You’re the ignorant and pathetic buffoon here, pal…with Il Douche in office, I have a lot more to worry about and deal with than drug-trafficking routes, and what junkies are doing, and why.
And just a heads-up…heart disease and tobacco-related illnesses are still the leading killers in this country, and you can look it up. For the record…automobile-related deaths in America are now topping 120 every single day, and the numbers are only going up because of distracted drivers.
So no, it’s NOT the #1 cause of death in these Untied Snakes. Educate your own clownish self. Wake up. Wise up. And then, you can also try shutting the fuck up.
Chuckles the Clown
I lived in Ohio all of my life, until last year. It is true, drugs are everywhere, however Ohio appears to be like ground zero. People not affected by the epidemic will Never understand the pain in Which addiction inflicts upon the entire family. It’s not lack of education or just affecting the poor. Heroin is in every walk of life from the very educated to the uneducated. It’s affects the rich and the poor. I thought I never had to worry about drugs. My daughter, a Grest student, lots of friends and has a very supportive and involved family. Yept, thought everything was perfect and then it hit us. My daughter is a drug addict and using heroin. Talk about the ultimate smack in the face. No way, we are a Grest family, this cant be true. We thought we did everything right. The guilt and the pain of feeling like a failure are overwhelming. We we’re fortunate that my daughter has had years of the best treatment in the US. It’s been years and everyday remains a struggle for her and us, just praying that there is not another relapse. Addiction takes over the brain and choice becomes need. I don’t expect all of u will understand, but it’s hell for the addict and the family. I wish there could be be empathy and understanding from those lucky enough that have never lived in this hell. Addiction is a lifelong struggle and a day to day struggle. Prayers,love and support to those struggling, not hate.
For those that think heroin addiction is due to poverty and lack of education, that is completely false. Do you know the street name for the Ohio Turnpike? Heroin Highway. Do you know that some of the most affluent communities in Ohio and in many many states have the greatest increases of heroin addiction? Did you know that many heroin addicts are more mature than the youth or uneducated stereotypes? Why?… opiate prescriptions for pain management. Insurance stops…doctors no longer prescribe…however the need for the med doesn’t. Not making excuses, because ultimately the addIct must step up and end the cycle. They have to really and truly want to end their using. Will it be hard? Yes.. Hardest work they will ever do. They have to get clean, cease contact with those that are the wrong influence, even if it’s family. They need to surround themselves with sober people. They need to buy in to a recovery program. They have to accept the recovery program. There is no silver bullet to end the cycle, no magic pill to take. That’s just the way it is and always will be. They need to demonstrate the patience to let each day of recovery unfold. They have to walk the walk and only walk the walk. They owe it to themselves to let sobriety be their life. It does work. And if they are lucky enough to end up in court ordered rehab program in lieu of jail they outta jump at the opportunity and be grateful there is such a program. All that said…an addict who wants out of the vicious cycle has absolutely nothing to lose by sincerely trying. Because if they don’t try and keep trying what they will lose is their life. Leaving behind a pain in family and friends that will never and I mean never ever go away.
To the person that said lock em up…. news flash but they can get the drug easier locked up than they can on the streets.
They can get the drug easier locked up than they can on the streets. Prayers to all the families that are dealing with addiction.
Let me start off by saying I have lost a cousin and a childhood best friend in the past 2 years from heroin. I am also a nurse and see how we treat pts with too many opiates, give people narcan for OD and send them out the door. I fully understand that addiction is a disease but I also know with 100% certainty that it is a disease that people have chosen. I believe and this may be heartless and off base that we have eradicated so many diseases, we keep people alive that should not be. That perhaps this is God’s way of thinning the herd. As I said in my opening it sucks I have lost family and friends. I know it crosses all ethnicities and financial classes. That with just one poor decision my kids could too end up in this trap. So I educate the best I can and pray. Pray they are smart enough to never go down that road
i agree , addiction is a disease.however, you have a choice, try or not try.i feel sure cancer patients would love this choice. i know a dementia sufferer who sure wishes she had a choice.. yes , we should try to save lives, but , seems to me , narcan availability has made it worse.im probably wrong, but i think some simply see this as a safety net, and then use even more.i don;t know , i guess all to do is pray. btw, did i mention i lost my son to accidental od?not heroin, rxs and allcohal. MAY GOD BE WITH ALL OF US!
OH MAN, SOME PEOPLE THINK THEY’LL NEVER KNOW, NOW I KNOW AND HERE’S WHY !
…. On Monday March 6th, I encountered for the first time in my life, a young man in trouble.. I had never known this stranger, never seen him, had never heard his voice nor did I know his name.
… I meet his lifeless body as he lay on the floor in some body else’s home.. Not breathing, no pulse, fixed and non reactive pupils.. He was clinically dead.. Gone… No longer breathing…
….. I dropped to my knees without even knowing that I was gonna be the one that was to breath the life back into air less lungs that has just stopped.. He was blue….. He has no color of life in him, no blood pumping through the heart…. AND NO PULSE… Everything that used to be vital, just stopped…
.. HERON CLAIMED ITS 11 TH VICTIM THAT DAY….. AND I WAS THE ONE TO ADMINISTER FULL BLOWN RESESITATION ALONG WITH A CARDIO THUMP TO HELP JUMP START A LIFELESS HEART.
… For 23 of the longest minutes of my life to date, I was that man’s only means of getting a 2nd chance… Every time I stopped compressions, his pulse would stop…. I finally was told by some unknown person to me that this man’s name was/is Joey. And that he’d over dosed….. And had three small children 2 doors down from where deaths angel was waiting.
….. I was so tired.. I was doing all this with no help nor any guidance.. As I’m trained and certified in all aspects of CPR & CPI. My resolve, however, only got stronger…. I wasn’t going to give up on three little girls daddy….
…….. I have no clue how I was even doing what I was doing .. what I wasn’t able to imagine my entire life…… I breathed sweet air filled with life back into stillness.. I gave chest compressions to a still heart that by my hand, would slowly return life back to him.. This stranger that I knew nothing about, and cared far more for his well being… And now that its the day after, I’ve been a total mess……
……. When Joey was taken out by medics, his still lifeless body was wrapped in a sheet.. I didn’t ask the unimagebable….. I couldn’t force the words out of mouth…. I just stood in the same place…… Rooted to the very floor by my shaking legs and trembling body.. I was deeply saddened and heart broke..
…….Nobody knows or knew how long Joey had been laying on that cold bathroom floor….. Maybe 5 minutes….. Perhaps as long as 10 before he was found.. And no, it wasn’t me that found him.. I wasn’t even inside the home this took place in.. I was the one that heard the screams… And I was to meet a silent Joey for the first time….. And follow the events of the evening up with a sleepless night of worry and such a deepened sense of fear…… Fear that I had failed Joey when he needed a stranger’s touch…. I feared the very worse…..
……… But today……. Ahhhh, sweet today.,, I received word that JOEY WAS VERY MUCH ALIVE & SUFFERED NO LONG TERM SIDE EFFECTS FROM THE NEARLY LETHAL DOSE OF HEROIN…..NO BRAIN DAMAGE NOR DAMAGE DONE TO HIS BODY..
……… I wanted to share this because my heart’s still heavy.. As I know 11 folks lost the very life God had bestowed upon them.. 11 families will never get another hug or the opportunity to say good-bye…..
………. I never thought in a million years that my very mouth and hands would meet up with a national terrorist known as HEROIN….. Yet I did.. We must tell the story of survival.. To breath some life and hope back into dying hearts filled by this nasty epidemic taking hundreds of lives a day…… So that we don’t ever forget, God is greater than the devil and his evil tongue…..
………. So we pray…… And we do it AS ONE…. NEVER FORGETTING THE STRENGTH WE EMBRACE AS A SOCIETY BEING THE SAME UNIT OF CARING FOR THE NEXT WOUNDED SOUL….
…….. HIT SHARE AND LET’S START MAKING A DIFFERENCE WHILE WE STILL CAN….. SHARING IS CARING, AND PRAYER IS POWER.. THANKS, ANNA, THE CINCINNATI OHIO AREA
…. On Monday March 6th, I encountered for the first time in my life, a young man in trouble.. I had never known this stranger, never seen him, had never heard his voice nor did I know his name.
… I meet his lifeless body as he lay on the floor in some body else’s home.. Not breathing, no pulse, fixed and non reactive pupils.. He was clinically dead.. Gone… No longer breathing…
….. I dropped to my knees without even knowing that I was gonna be the one that was to breath the life back into air less lungs that has just stopped.. He was blue….. He has no color of life in him, no blood pumping through the heart…. AND NO PULSE… Everything that used to be vital, just stopped…
.. HERON CLAIMED ITS 11 TH VICTIM THAT DAY….. AND I WAS THE ONE TO ADMINISTER FULL BLOWN RESESITATION ALONG WITH A CARDIO THUMP TO HELP JUMP START A LIFELESS HEART.
… For 23 of the longest minutes of my life to date, I was that man’s only means of getting a 2nd chance… Every time I stopped compressions, his pulse would stop…. I finally was told by some unknown person to me that this man’s name was/is Joey. And that he’d over dosed….. And had three small children 2 doors down from where deaths angel was waiting.
….. I was so tired.. I was doing all this with no help nor any guidance.. As I’m trained and certified in all aspects of CPR & CPI.. My resolve, however, only got stronger…. I wasn’t going to give up on three little girls daddy….
…….. I have no clue how I even did what id done.. I had done the imagable…… I breathed sweet air filled with life back into stillness.. I gve chest compressions to a still heart that by my hand, would slowly return life back to him.. This stranger that I knew nothing about, and cared far more for his well being… And now that its the day after, I’ve been a total mess……
……. When Joey was taken out by medics, his still lifeless body was wrapped in a sheet.. I didn’t ask the unimagebable….. I couldn’t force the words out of mouth…. I just stood in the same place…… Rooted to the very floor by my shaking legs and trembling body.. I was deeply saddened and heart broke..
…….Nobody knows or knew how long Joey had been laying on that cold bathroom floor….. Maybe 5 minutes….. Perhaps as long as 10 before he was found.. And no, it wasn’t me that found him.. I wasn’t even inside the home this took place in.. I was the one that heard the screams… And I was to meet a silent Joey for the first time….. And follow the events of the evening up with a sleepless night of worry and such a deepened sense of fear…… Fear that I had failed Joey when he needed a stranger’s touch…. I feared the very worse…..
……… But today……. Ahhhh, sweet today.,, I received word that JOEY WAS VERY MUCH ALIVE & SUFFERED NO LONG TERM SIDE EFFECTS FROM THE NEARLY LETHAL DOSE OF HEROIN…..NO BRAIN DAMAGE NOR DAMAGE DONE TO HIS BODY..
……… I wanted to share this because my heart’s still heavy.. As I know 11 folks lost the very life God had bestowed upon them.. 11 families will never get another hug or the opportunity to say good-bye…..
………. I never thought in a million years that my very mouth and hands would meet up with a national terrorist known as HEROIN….. Yet I did.. We must tell the story of survival.. To breath some life and hope back into dying hearts filled by this nasty epidemic taking hundreds of lives a day…… So that we don’t ever forget, God is greater than the devil and his evil tongue…..
………. So we pray…… And we do it AS ONE…. NEVER FORGETTING THE STRENGTH WE EMBRACE AS A SOCIETY BEING THE SAME UNIT OF CARING FOR THE NEXT WOUNDED SOUL…..
.