LANSDOWNE, Va. — Virginia’s latest attempt to turn around the growing heroin crisis includes a new documentary video aimed at scaring teens straight.
Attorney General Mark Herring hopes the education will complement the recent push to prosecute more drug dealers.
“We’ve got a really gripping documentary coming out in the next few weeks that I think will really capture the attention of young people and their parents and teach them just how dangerous these drugs are,” Herring says.
In addition to screenings, Herring aims to make the video widely available. He says it is nothing like “Reefer Madness.”
“No, I think this is one that’s really going to talk to kids where they are, and it’s going to speak to them in a way that will resonate with them, and just let them know that this is dangerous and that they need to never start, but, if they do, there’s also hope in recovery and treatment,” he says.
This week, data showed for the first time since the records began, more people died of heroin or opioid overdoses last year than died in car crashes on the state’s roads.
Heroin and related drug overdoses are on the rise in much of the region.
“It’s truly a crisis, both a law enforcement issue as well as a public health crisis,” Herring says.
“I’ve talked to people who never thought heroin would touch anyone in their families, and yet they’re grieving over the loss of a loved one – a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister,” Herring says.
Herring points out that the data from 2014 may not reflect the impact of more cooperation among law enforcement agencies and prosecutors at all levels, as well as other recent efforts to jail drug dealers and medical professionals who are providing bogus prescriptions for painkillers.
“The problem is going to continue to get worse until it gets better, but we’re making progress,” he says.
