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Ohio Channel Presents - "Start Talking!" Heroin Summit
 
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The "Protecting Ohio's Families: Start Talking!" Heroin Summit addresses the risk of heroin and prescription drug addiction in Ohio's schools.

The summit was held by the Alliance for High Quality Education, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

The goal of the summit was to educate school district leaders about the scope of the heroin epidemic, how to engage communities in the fight against drug abuse, and best practices for prevention.

The conference includes testimonials from Danielle Smoot and Heidi Riggs, Community Outreach Specialists for the Attorney General's Office, who also both lost a child to a drug overdose. Smoot founded Cole's Warriors in memory of her son, Cole Smoot, who died at the age of 16 after taking a prescription pill given to him by a friend in 2011. Riggs' daughter Marin, 20, died of a heroin overdose in 2012 and is the focus of the video produced by the Attorney General's Office entitled "Marin's Story: The Battle Against Heroin."

Additional Speakers include:
Dr. Thomas Tucker, Worthington City Schools Superintendent
Dr. Richard Ross, Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction
Paul Imhoff, Alliance for High Quality Education
Judge Scott D. Vanderkarr, Franklin County Drug Court
Andy Wilson, Clark County Prosecutor
Lori Povisil, Safe and Drug Free Schools
David Perrin, Worthington Kilbourne High School student
Chief Richard Bosley, Avon Police
Director Tracy Plouck, Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
Marcie Seidel, Executive Director Drug-Free Action Alliance
April 29, 2014