The Trump administration’s announcement Thursday that the opioid crisis is a national public health emergency was not news to first responders in Madison County.
Sheriff Mike Coyle has been in law enforcement four decades and has witnessed drug problems from day one.
He is looking forward to help from the federal government.
Coyle says there’s probably no better time than now for our society to recognize that we have a problem, not just in Madison County but across the world.
“We do need help from the federal government. We need more legislation to be passed and something to be done with drug traffickers. Drug dealers, that’s the biggest problem.”
Sheriff Coyle says his department works with a supportive fiscal court. Madison County is using a street crimes unit, a tip line and a high intensity drug trafficking task force.
“We fight this thing just like fighting fire every day. We look forward to anything or anybody that. But we’re all in. We do it every day.”
To date this year, Madison County has had at least 26 overdose deaths.
The White House has not yet released details of the emergency plan or how the programs to fight the drug epidemic will be funded.