Dayton is known as several positive things, chief among them as a city of innovation and the birthplace of aviation. This area is also known as the home of the Crossroads of America, where Interstate 70, the highway that divides America from east to west, and Interstate 75, which goes all the way from Florida up to the top of Michigan, cross each other. This easy access to highways make the city a great place for manufacturing, but also unfortunately makes it susceptible to the drug traffickers that use the highways to traverse the country.
According to Cincinnati’s WCPO, I-75 alone is known as the nation’s Heroin Highway and communities all along its length have to work hard to keep drugs from the roadway from entering their communities. The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (MHA) has seen the amount of heroin confiscated by the Ohio State Highway Patrol jump from about 36 pounds in 2011 to 167 in 2016. The agency also reported a 136% increase in drug-related arrests on the highway from 2010 to 2016.
To fight the rising record number of drug overdose deaths in Montgomery County and around the country, we all need to work harder to stop the drugs from moving between communities. Ohio has responded by instructing the Highway Patrol to emphasize its anti-drug role, which has lead to an increase in drug-sniffing dogs and hyper vigilance when it comes to observing nervous drivers when pulled over. The Buckeye State is passing on its knowledge to other states, but if we are really committed to keeping Americans off of the drugs that can kill them, there needs to be a national response to this issue running rampant on our highways.
News Source: The Toledo Blade, WCPO, and Ohio’s MHA
The News Wheel is a digital auto magazine providing readers with a fresh perspective on the latest car news. We’re located in the heart of America (Dayton, Ohio) and our goal is to deliver an entertaining and informative perspective on what’s trending in the automotive world. See more articles from The News Wheel.