FRANK LEWIS
PDT Staff Writer
A Portsmouth man has been charged in a drug arrest that occurred as the result of a traffic stop on Saturday.
Michael C. Spradlin, 36, of 222 Chillicothe St., in Portsmouth, faces charges of possession of drugs - heroin and possession of drug abuse instruments. Spradlin was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over for a lane violation after turning at the intersection of Third and Gay streets.
When the three occupants of the vehicle were asked if there were any drugs in 2001 Ford Explorer, they each responded there were none, but during the pat down of Spradlin, an officer noted feeling something in his pocket. That item then fell through his pant leg. It turned out to be a white and purple plastic tube which contained a yellowish baggie. That baggie reportedly contained an off-white rocky substance.
The three were read their Miranda Rights, but Spradlin reportedly told officers the item was heroin and it was his. They also located a syringe loaded with an unknown liquid substance and a metal spoon, which Spradlin also said were his. Spradlin reportedly told police he had purchased the heroin for $40. It was later weighed and turned out to be about .8 of a gram.
Police officers decided to submit the unknown liquid to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. However, Spradlin reportedly told them he expected it to contain heroin. The syringe was destroyed in a sharps container.
Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 232, or at flewis@heartlandpublications.com
Don't forget the Regional Commission that funnels millions of dollars into Scioto County for those admin salaries, perks and retirements with no accountability but their own, and most of all no results for decades. Check out the Hughes Counseling Center cottage industry, probably the biggest NGO in town and growing by leaps and bounds with no published comprehensive results for your tax money.
Check out that Inter-modal Effort by the SSU recently, all fluff for more of those salaries, perks and retirements. You are getting warmer 48.
It's all around and the PDT's only reports piece meal, sporadically, a crumb at a time, etc.
Run 48 Run.............
Unfortunately shutting down the pill mills does not fix the problem of the addict. What is the closest thing to perscription pills.......Heroin. So guess where all those people turned when the pill mills disapeared. Guess where wasn't an option....they couldn't get treated because Portsmouth only has one place to get treatment and they like to depend on God and support instead of science and proven medicines like Suboxone. This drug problem in Portsmouth is being handled like this is the first time they have seen addiction. The first thing that must be done is stop the source which has happened in shutting down the, I am going to quit calling them pill mills because it all goes back to dirty, greedy doctors, not the building they operate in, so in shutting down these dirty doctors. Ok there is step one, step two, treat the people that can be helped. That is where Portsmouth stops, they have Solace so once the addict dies there is a place you can go to grieve but where is the support for the addicts????? They have to go to Cincy or Columbus or somewhere else to get help and support. Guess what when you don't have a job or car and the treatment itself is expensive how are you supposed to do it?Why do they have to go anywhere else for treatment, in another city?? Portsmouth started this Oxy problem why wouldn't that be the place to treat it??? No you leave the addict to their own devices and then wonder where all the heroin is coming from. Guess what from the same people who were on pills, they didn't stop, they switched. Why do we still have addicts with no pill mills...well you never fixed the problem...all you did was stick a bandaid on a broken leg. There is an entire generation of addicts in Portsmouth that will never have help, you will have to wait for them to die, they don't want help and there are only two endings to that story, jail or dead...they can't be helped and they don't matter. But and this is a big but, there is a percentage that wants help and wants to be and can be better. That help does not exist in Portsmouth and therefore you have just condemned the entire addict population which unfortunately is a very high percentage of the total population. You have to educate their kids that this is not normal and you don't have to end up there. The kids of these addicts see mom and dad and all their friends use everyday. They think this is normal. Its normal to go to Kroger and see the addicts wandering the aisles. Its normal to have your stuff stolen at Wal-Mart to look at something on the shelf...THIS IS NOT NORMAL.....THIS IS PORTSMOUTH...and until this town steps up and offers some real help to these people it will only get worse. Shame...Shame...Shame on the Counseling Center...Shame on PDT for printing articles that present Suboxone in a negative light and shame...shame....shame on the people of Portsmouth for not fixing this problem in their community. I was told by a wise person once to never bring up a problem without a solution and this is what Portsmouth did they brough up the problem of addiction without ever presenting a solution. If you thought merely closing down the pill mills would fix your problem then you are way too nieve and do not understand addiction. I would love to tell you where to go learn but unfortunately Portsmouth doesn't have that. This is an oppurtunity for Portsmouth to show the fix to the nation...to show how you can take an addicted town and turn it around. Instead they showed them the problem and are waiting on someone else to fix it. Let Columbus or Cincinnati or hell even Chillicothe take care of our problems. If you keep waiting for the addicts to just go away you are in for a rude awakening.
Does the M & M allow tracking all these arrests and were do they go, to jail for sometime, or to one of the Hughes Counseling Center's residential programs?
How can there be so many of these arrests, etc. in this town of about 18,000 population and they not decrease but increase and even after we have zero PILL MILL's now, they claim?
Is there anybody tracking this or do we just come to work and come see come sa?
No sophistication, like all the other authorities in town, city and county budgeting, CAO, COAD, SOPA, et al?
Just wondering around..........what do other towns in Ohio, do? Do any of your leaders know that to compare ourelves the others, etc. Huh?