With the heroin and opiate problems here in Ohio, a special committee was put together by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, House Speaker Clifford Rosenberger, and past Senate President Keith Faber to help find out how to combat that problem, by teaching students about drugs in schools. Â New recommendations made up by the committee would teach students about drugs every year from Kindergarten up to the 12th grade.
"We're trying to get young people to understand how serious and how affective these drugs are, and we're only hitting them in spurts, in one grade or something like that, that's not working," said Auglaize County Sheriff Al Solomon, who is also a member of the committee.
This would allow law enforcement to help take some of the pressure off of schools with drug education and shed some positive light on uniformed officers, showing that they are the good guys.
"We want to push a little harder, K through 12, to make sure that they understand that they've got other people out there that are willing to help," Sheriff Solomon said. Â "We want to be friends in law enforcement to the kids, whether it's the Sheriff's Office or police departments in our county, that's what we want to try and do and we can do that with the help of the schools."
From the education side of things, teaching their students about drugs is something that many schools find important.
"Obviously it's important when you look at everything that's going on in society, we have to continue to pound away on the fact that drug education is important, 'just say no' is important, all of the things that we've been preaching for years, but the implications are pretty serious when you talk about the level of dangers that are out there today for our kids," said Keith Horner, Superintendent of Wapakoneta City Schools.Â
As of now, the committee’s report that lists its recommendations of services and possible courses of action are going to schools in Ohio for consideration.
