Mike DeWine

They grow the poppies in Mexico. They ship it across our southern border into Ohio.

I know Senator Portman has been directly involved in that concern, and Members of the House and the Senate have been.

Law enforcement is a key component part, but we are not going to arrest our way out of this problem.

The number of people who are in Ohio who cannot pass a drug test and, therefore, cannot have a number of jobs.

Our jails in Ohio are overflowing.

Our foster care system is bursting at the seams; our children services are.

Every day, in Ohio, we have babies who are born who are addicted.

The most visible sign of opioid epidemic in Ohio, of course, is the number of deaths that we have.

It takes more and more dosages.

One of the things that we've done in Ohio is pass a law that provides that a parent can go to the credit reporting agencies and actually freeze that child's credit.

We're helping the smaller jurisdictions, so we can bring forensic accountants in, for example, if we're dealing with something having to do with fraud, money fraud.

As you know, and the members of the Committee know, a lot of these scams are targeted specifically at elderly.

What we have done is reached out to businesses and asked them to give us their best people literally to put on a group to start working on these issues.

I think what I would like to see is the Federal Government prioritize, we understand they can't take every case, make some examples.

What is different today is that they now have the long arm of both the Internet and phones!

There is strength in numbers.

We need to break down barriers to communication.

I have served now as Ohio Attorney General for just over six years.

You don't want to tell the bad guys everything you know. You want to keep them guessing.

Do imagine if fill in a small community, who someone came in, killed eight members of a family. Four different homes.

I think we have to look at that more and see what the Federal Government can do.

We have taken, and I say we, because we are the lawyers for the State Medical Board, and we pushed this.

Mr. Chairman, you are absolutely right. There is a natural progression from opiates to heroin.

But, all of us together, that is why the stool has to have the four legs, all of us together, we can make a difference.

You cannot arrest your way out of it.