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Here, the opioid crisis is bigger than politics. As rehab centers replace pill mills, an Ohio River city fights back - The Boston Globe

posted onDecember 25, 2019
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Article snippet: PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Dale King rumbled into the parking lot in his military Jeep, a black 1940s-style clunker that he maneuvered with a skull-tipped stick shift. Heavy metal music blasted from the garage that he and some friends had converted to a gym for the neighboring addiction center. Patients from next door were packed inside wearing worn T-shirts, faded athletic gear, and other hand-me-downs. Half the class were barefoot. Some wore jeans, others ankle monitors. It was October 2018, and King, a 38-year-old retired Army intelligence officer turned fitness trainer, characteristically got straight to the point. “Who here has overdosed?” Every hand in the room went up. “So, clearly you are not afraid to die?” A few nodded back in agreement. “Well, if you’re not afraid to die, don’t be afraid to go all out in this class,” he shouted. “Don’t be afraid to live.” He barely noticed the young man with a wrestler’s build in the back. For years, King’s hometown here on the banks of the Ohio River was so ravaged by opioid abuse that it earned the notorious moniker of America’s Pill Mill. Governors and congressional leaders, Democrats and Republicans poured money into drug investigations and rehabilitation in attempts to lift Portsmouth and similarly hit communities in Ohio. Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 on the promise to build a wall along the nation’s southern border and renew American manufacturing in places like this. That helped him win Ohio comfortably by capturin... Link to the full article to read more

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