FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. — Leaders in one southern Indiana county announced the creation of a new task force that looks to manage drug sales and addictions.
Floyd County, Indiana received settlement money from multiple lawsuits between the government and major pharmaceutical companies. This funding is given to states as grants to improve their communities.
Indiana is a recipient of one of those grants, and Floyd County officials are utilizing their potion of the funds to create the Floyd County Drug Interdiction Task Force.
"A lot of counties are doing different things with it but this county chose to put that into treatment and interdiction," said Chris Lane, the Floyd County Prosecutor.
The team consists of the county prosecutor, a judge and the sheriff's department. They will work together to help connect offenders and their families with resources.
Carrie Stiller, the judge for Superior Court No. 1, said about 90% of cases they see in courtrooms are related to drug abuse and they are seeing a lot of repeat offenders.
"What we're trying to do is make sure that these individuals who are affected by drug abuse, or substance abuse, or mental health disorders and a lot of it is co-occurring so it's both," Stiller said. "And make sure they have the opportunities for treatment at each and every phase as they go through their case and then well beyond that."
Two ordinances were passed to manage the funds. One is to aid drug abusers and will be granted just under $5 million by 2038.
"We don't have systems set up necessarily for all of this," Stiller said. "We're literally inventing the wheel here on some of these programs and that's why we're looking for creative options."
The other ordinance will fund law enforcement operations and is expected to be granted $2 million by 2038.
"It allows, for example overtime, if we have a situation where we need overtime," said Steve Bush, the sheriff of Floyd County. "We have other investigative tools we'll get into on a later day once we get into the meat and potatoes of what we will do."
County commissioners voted on the ordinances on Tuesday in hopes of a positive outcome.
"Everybody here has been impacted by this," said Al Knable, the Floyd County Commissioner of District 1. "Family, associates, people that we work with. Take even one of those 10 people out of that cycle and we're going to have a better community. We're going to have a better Floyd County. We're going to have a better world."
A team working on a solution to curb drug sales and prevent others from falling into the abuse cycle.
The Floyd County Justice Reinvestment Advisory Council will take charge of planning how they will fund and create new rehabilitation services. They are currently seeking the community's help and input.
If you're interested in helping the county end the cycle of drug abuse click here to find an application for the council.
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