Opioids: How We Must Respond As A Church
Problem - The Churches Approach to The Opioid Epidemic The local church in the Dayton, Ohio area and throughout the country in general, has found itself facing a drug abuse crisis on a scale it has not had to deal with until now. Throughout the history of the church there have been problems with drug use in the community however, the opioid epidemic in Dayton, Ohio today has reached astronomical numbers of deaths and overdoses and the church has to find a way to get involved in an ever-increasing lack of spiritual guidance in our society. Dayton is the largest city in Montgomery County Ohio. According Sheriff Phil Plumber of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, “We're on a pace to have 800 people die this year due to overdose in our county," Sheriff Phil Plummer told NBC News. "Per capita, we're Number 1 in the nation in overdose deaths” (Soboroff, 2017). Montgomery County Coroner Kent Harshbarger stated that because his office covers one-fifth of Ohio,