The statistics are only getting worse when it comes to drug use in the U.S., in Indiana and right here in Hamilton County. In 2008, Indiana was one of the top 10 states for the rate-of-past- month use of illicit drugs other than marijuana, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Indiana also has the 17th Highest Drug Overdose Mortality Rate in the United States according to Trust For America’s Health. Other reports show that morepeople are abusing prescription drugs in Indiana than the national average and that Indiana is reporting a rise in heroin use as many addicts shift from more costly and harder-to-get prescription opiates to heroin which is a cheaper alternative.

Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly came to Launch Fishers on May 27 to talk about the drug problem with law enforcement, elected officials, and community leaders from Hamilton and Boone Counties and to discuss their efforts to combat heroin use and prescription drug abuse, sales, and other associated crimes.

In attendance were the police chiefs of Fishers, Noblesville, Zionsville and Carmel along with the Hamilton County Sheriff. The mayor of Noblesville and Fishers Town Manager also attended along with a Hamilton County Deputy Prosecutor, the Hamilton Southeastern School Superintendent and medical directors from IU North and St. Vincent, among others.

Sen. Donnelly says he arranged the conference to get their perspective on how he can help make their jobs a little easier and help them face the challenges that they face every day in the war on drugs.

“They are working hard every day to cut off the pipeline for drugs that comes in because so much of other crime is related to drug use,” he said.

The Senator says that the drug problem is across the board.

“Hamilton and Boone Counties are such beautiful places but we face the same challenges here that every community faces in this country and we have dedicated law enforcement officials that are dealing with this every single day,” he said.

As for the solution, Donnelly says there are things that he can do to help.

“We can be of assistance in helping them with task force development, with partnerships with DEA, with being able to help fund grants that provide them with more law enforcement assistance. So, those are the kind of things that, on the federal level, I can help with. Also, what was discussed was the fact that that we have to be tighter at the border in terms of these drugs coming across because most all of them are coming from Mexico,” the Senator said.