Village police chief in spotlight of Ohio’s heroin battle
NEWTOWN, Ohio — The veteran police chief in a bucolic Ohio village, where the last murder was two decades ago and he can just about count the number of drug cases on both hands, finds himself in the spotlight on the front lines against heroin overdoses in one of the nation’s hardest-hit states.
Thomas Synan Jr., of Newtown, with some 2,700 people tucked among suburban cities and townships just east of Cincinnati, has led the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition task force during a stunning spike of overdoses that saw 174 reported in one six-day period last month. He has also publicly challenged Ohio’s governor to do more to help an area that’s “bleeding profusely.”
“We need action, and we need it now,” Synan declared at the Hamilton County coroner’s office Sept. 6 after the coroner announced lab tests confirmed the extremely powerful animal tranquilizer carfentanil was present in some recent overdose casualties.
The office of John Kasich, the popular second-term Republican governor who ran for president, has responded that he lacks specific authority under Ohio law to declare a “public health emergency,” as Synan and others call for. Kasich initiatives have included making it tougher for drug abusers to obtain prescription painkillers, expanding access to the overdose antidote naloxone and promoting discussion about drug dangers in schools and homes.