Mike Emery, Palladium-Item
Heroin takes a toll.
Not only on the opioid's users, but on the entire community.
And it's taking that toll on area residents and area communities right now.
"It's a monster eating away at society," said Whitney Mays, program director for The Hope House, a recovery and rehabilitation center for men in Richmond. "It crept in one day, and it's just taken over. It's out of control."
Heroin's bite is deadly, too. Death totals rise as users die from overdoses. Mays has attended more than 50 funerals. She's watched parents cry by their children's caskets, and she's observed young children standing by their parents' caskets.
After destroying individuals, heroin decimates families and attacks communities, a heavy toll users don't consider when they're only concerned about their next fix.
"We need to be accountable because the community's and the children's lives depend on it," Mays said. "It should be a focus for everybody that cares and everybody that has children. It's not just an addict thing, it's a community thing."