An Upward Battle: Fighting Drug Addiction in Fayette County

[@amandaprice1992]

I would love to see more stories like this around our town.

[@janlascko]

My mother lived in Republic for many years. She was addicted to prescription drugs and used the old "go to Dr A, then Dr B and Dr C" method of getting pain killers. What she didn't use, I suspect (but have no proof) she was selling some to the locals to make some money. I have no way of proving it. It was so heartbreaking to see her like this. So you can easily blame the medical people for prescribing medication that isn't needed. And the arsons that happened around Republic (including the house my mother used to live in) was burned down along with many others. You need the Feds involved on this.

[@trukeesey8715]

0:57 Never zone for apartments, trailers, nor for attached housin. Run those zoners and/or zonresses out of town.

[@Brebird101]

This makes me embarrassed to live in Fayette County:(

[@Greenlung81]

it is sad and only getting worse i live like 10 mins from there this towns goin to shit

[@TrenchWarrior51]

I believe in the law and what makes me sick is when I observed drug transactions being made in the parking lot near my mother's home I called the police to report this and they did nothing. This guy would park his car and sit for 1-2 hours while meeting with random people and trading drugs/money. I even filmed it from a bedroom window and asked for an officer to come by to look at this and they said they were busy and not able to do so. Really??? This was about 4 years ago and something small like this being handled could have slowed down the growth of the drug distribution in the area. I don't believe there is enough action being done to help fix this problem. Why not focus more man power on doing sting operations that will make these people more afraid to be out in public making these transactions right in front of everyone?

[@CassielFell]

The small dealers aren't the problem. A lot of them are addicts that are trying to make a few dollars on their own or simply people trying to pay their way when better options ran out. Or someone else further up that food chain basically owns them. Going after the little guys, and believe me.. your guy was a little guy, won't do a fricking thing to curb any of this. Soon as you pull him off the street someone else will be there to take his place.

[@staggerlee14760]

Prohibition does not work. If the people that are addicted to drugs weren't treated as criminals and could get their drugs from a doctor that could regulate dosages etc.there would not be as many overdoses. Plus addicts could get the help they need to get off of the drugs.

[@tessazywiec4992]

This video is heartbreaking. Fayette County is our HOME, the place we raised our children and where we still reside. Two of my son's childhood friends have died from heroin in the past year and there are several others we know about. These kids are full of despair, have no hope for the future, no faith in God. They are lost souls. We were robbed by an acquaintance of my son. He & his friends stole money & one of our cars.Officer Grabiak answered the call & did nothing, so we drove around & eventually my son found them in the car downtown. They abandoned the car & the cops towed it away & it cost us $250 to get it back. We need to stop the importation of opiates at the borders of our country, give dealers life in prison and create better access to rehabs.

[@angelmucker1724]

Doctors over prescribing can be thanked! So you are saying if you sister/brother or son/daughter got addicted to a pain killer say because of an accident, then got caught for selling some of his/her pills to help pay rent...GIVE THEM LIFE IN PRISON!?!? What does that fix?? SURE AS HELL JUST THROWS A PERSON AWAY BECAUSE OF HAVING A DISEASE! THATS LIKE SAYING LOCK UP CANCER OR AIDS PATIENTS!

[@tessazywiec4992]

Angel Mucker No, I meant the dealers who bring heroin into this country. If you re-read my comment, you will notice I was referring to dealers bringing it into our country.

[@thegodzub]

Angel Mucker 1. Heroine addiction is not a disease and 2. Being addicted to a pill and then deciding to use heroine instead of getting help to beat your addiction is just stupid.

[@angelmucker1724]

Wreckington Brown I agree it is stupid but when you feel like you're dying from withdrawal people will do Herion because #1 its so much cheaper than pills. #2 it is an opiate so feeling like your gonna die from withdrawal is over. Then people have opened a door that most can't close. I have seen it happen to many. Johnstown is a town about 1 1/2 away from Fayette and Johnstown had a few bad Drs that over prescribed and now Heroin has exploded because the feds took away the Drs. If you don't believe me look up the local town hall program the local NBC station WJAC did... 

[@papadomspizzalagoon2726]

Very sad. The problem is that there is no end....no solution in sight.

[@illcutta]

The problem is no one ever talks about solutions they just talk about the problem

[@JReedefined]

So disturbing!

[@melissabosh1019]

So sad.

[@Aint1S]

Bill Bendis I hear you man, but the nature of certain types of people with these things are inhibited. It's a complicated problem that doesn't induce fear in what they are doing. The fear only comes from stopping the flow of this crap... top to the bottom level. As they stop the top of the chain, they'll have the users turn to help when their daytime hours are useless.

[@jtsgarage2999]

this is so sad to see yea i was a part of the drug thing back wen crack blew up in uniontown but before that man i ran the streets i no every street ally everything in the town and out and it was a nice town i sit here and terr up wen i see this to think that this was a town i was prod of the events we had it was a town that had pride now im am ashamed to tell people im from there man i miss the 80s 90s wen it was a good town a strong town crack started the death of this town now its this i am so afraid for my mom that still stays there and piss on the cops trust me i no it dose not take much to make one turn the other way$ the police force is so corrupt in that town its not funny wen i go once in a blue moon to see my friends your doing something wrong they need to take some classes on how to point out the good and the bad no its guilty before proven inasint in that town hell i don't think uniontown even has the Italy fastavul any more love uniontown was brought up there and it has ruined my life to that point till i got out its all up to you to change your life and i did god bless uniontown

[@jonnyozone1]

Listen to exactly what he says did he slip up or mistakenly speak. 0:45-1:05 How is he referring to the word our. did he just say the drugs that they're currently have an epidemic with belongs to the police

[@DoomShepherd]

Cardoso, Manuel; Santos, Ana Sofia; Duarte, Óscar (2009). "New Development, Trends and in-depth information on selected issues". Portuguese Focal Point report (2008 data) to the EMCDDA. Lisbon, Portugal: Institute for Drug and Drug Addiction (IDT,I.P.). Retrieved 2011-06-11.

[@GingerMcNulty]

The approach is entirely wrong. It's punitive. It's punishment. When someone harms another *nonconsenting* other, well then it makes some measure of sense to call in law enforcement to punish or otherwise intimidate them back inside of civilized social boundaries. But when someone has an actual issue with addiction that drives them to act against their own ethics, rearing and conscience, it makes no sense whatever to try and punish them out of it. Take away someone's licence and you cripple them. You just go and look for a job that doesn't require a dl and/or reliable transportation. Now shame them some more about not having a job. Bust them for probation violation every time they start to catch up with the last round, cost them their job and housing while throwing significant friction into already contentious personal relationships, then arrest them for being vagrant. This soon leads to felony charges and being completely unemployable. Yeah, that'll make things better for everybody! And how do you enforce any law where there is no victim? Who's gonna complain? Not the victim. Usually some vindictive person with a grudge or some cowardly person too scared to get involved with neighbors and see what's going on. Just call 1-800-bea-snitch like Ronald Ritchie or whoever provided the anonymous tip that resulted in the maiming of a toddler in Cornelia, Ga www.cnn.com/2014/05/30/us/georgia-toddler-injured-stun-grenade-drug-raid/ If your neighbors are causing problems, shouldn't you take it directly to them first? If you're honestly scared of them and need force of law as the last resort for a problem that is both intolerable and insoluble by peaceful and legal means, can you send them for the exact problems they're causing you personally? Like, "he stole my shit" or "Look at the bruises!" Law enforcement should never have been put in charge of substance abuse. They're not trained for it. They're trained for an entirely different function.

[@trukeesey8715]

Are drugs a weapon of the counter-reformation?

[@DoomShepherd]

Portugal? Ha. Reported lifetime use of "all illicit drugs" increased from 7.8% to 12%, lifetime use of cannabis increased from 7.6% to 11.7%, cocaine use more than doubled, from 0.9% to 1.9%, ecstasy nearly doubled from 0.7% to 1.3%, and heroin increased from 0.7% to 1.1%.

[@shannonmahoney5988]

Well the drug addict that robed a lot of homes in Uniontown also robbed my house and stole jewelry and a playstation ... Of course I was upset about everything that was taken... But more disgusted to know that pc of shit was in my house and in every room ... He even had serve to go thru my sons diaper bag. I hope he gets to kick his addition while locked up but if he is like any typical drug users in fayette county once he gets out he will be hooked again.

[@tanqueray7450]

Sad to live in Fayette county where people can't spell and the drop out rate is over 60 percent. I hope your son learns to spell and write English better then you. Cause you suck at it. Please don't teach your son your bad writing and bad spelling. Let the teachers do that, cause you will make him as bad as you. Please go get your G.E.D. As I can tell you dropped out of school or never ever paid attention in school.

[@toastyman3571]

Why destroy your life with drugs? You only live once take care of your body.

[@galenreilly]

Rat bill I hate rats grow up and go tell him u don't want him drug dealing

[@ViciousGothVic]

I hate the hood

[@galenreilly]

Ra

[@danielsmith9934]

Die Uniontown. Die.