Opiates are the new black, a pharmaceutical phenomenon fed by pill mills and pain, an epic addictive sickness that has become the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio, says the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The disease threatens to infect JobsOhio, the workplace development initiative of Gov. John Kasich. State Rep. Timothy Derickson says a coal mine owner told him 100 people showed up for a job interview and 90 of them failed the drug test.
“I was shocked to hear the extent of this problem throughout the state,” Derickson said. “I didn’t hear that 90 percent figure again. What I heard more often was 40 percent to 50 percent.” Nancy Shafer, president of Shafer Commercial & Industrial Services, figures about a third of job candidates for her firm flunk the drug test. “I don’t know how else we fix this problem,” Derickson said, “except to make sure the appropriate agencies have the funds to treat it.”