Health

Ohio Lawmakers Introduce A New Comprehensive Drug Plan

The Statehouse News Bureau | By Jo Ingles,

Jo Ingles

Published June 10, 2020 at 2:20 PM EDT

Some Ohio lawmakers are pushing five different bills they say will deal with the state’s opioid abuse problem in a comprehensive way.

The bipartisan bill would increase penalties for drug traffickers and put a three-day limit on new opioid prescriptions. And Rep. Adam Holmes (R-Nashport) says one part of it would give grants to businesses that provide job opportunities for recently incarcerated Ohioans.

"These grants would augment the payroll and benefit costs associated with hiring released offenders. It would also provide housing for ex-offenders who take such jobs," Holmes says.

The sponsors say they have put these initiatives forward in five separate bills to make it easier to get some of the plan put in place as soon as possible rather than waiting for agreement on one large comprehensive bill.

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Jo Ingles

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.

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Jo Ingles