Mayor Tells Avon Lake: We Have A Serious Heroin Problem

In a surprising gesture of frankness, Avon Lake Mayor Zilka spoke from prepared correspondence about a problem in the city that many are aware of, but few discuss: heroin and drug use.

“There is a plague in our community about the use of prescription drugs and heroin,” Zilka said at the April 15 council meeting. “And they have resulted in several related deaths in recent months.”

In Lorain County, drug-related deaths tripled in 2012 to 60, from 22 in 2011. Sixteen of those resulted from users jumping from prescription drugs to the significantly cheaper heroin. And although the problem is often discussed in more private circumstances, Zilka is bringing the issue to the public forefront.

"At the risk of others labeling out community in a negative manner, we must face the fact that our city has a serious problem, a problem shared by communities around us. This is not just Avon Lake’s problem, or Lorain County’s problem. It is a crisis. Which has engulfed our whole culture.”

Zilka said heroin had infiltrated “our comfortable suburb.”

“And it will not just go away.”

Zilka’s comments were spurred by a meeting with the city’s Recreation Program Coordinator, Lisa Goodwin, who describes herself as a “concerned citizen.”

Goodwin said she approached Zilka after attending an Avon Lake funeral last week from a resident who reportedly died from a heroin overdose.

“Attending another funeral of another kid in town, not someone I even knew, just someone who lived here,” Goodwin said April 15, of what motivated her. “You go to these and you see the same kids on the lawn of Busch (Funeral Home) smoking cigarettes, that were at the previous funeral.”

Goodwin said this is not a new problem to Avon Lake, and it’s time the city and residents begin to accept it—and take action.

“It just felt like the big pink elephant," she said. "Everyone I knew was talking about it and how sad it was. It’s become like a ripple effect.

“Elderly people are talking about it, people in the supermarket are talking about it. These kids belong to someone; they come from good families.”

Goodwin has been active in trying to bring awareness to substance abuse in Avon Lake.

Zilka said he has been in contact with Catherine Gabe of Solace Lorain County about their awareness program and recovery programs for communities.

“It is our hope to put together a program for the community and develop a better understanding of this serious issue so that we can work toward turning a corner,” Zilka said.

Zilka said City Hall is working with experts in the field to offer the community a Town Hall meeting in mid-June to address “the many questions being asked at the supermarket, soccer games and at community gatherings.

Details on the meeting’s date, time and other relevant information will be forthcoming as plans develop.