Recently, the East Liverpool Police Department posted a picture on social media of a couple passed out in a car, from a heroin overdose with a 4-year-old child in the back seat. Most people have seen something about heroin in the news, but haven’t seen the face of what the “epidemic” really is.

While the police department may have committed an ethical crime in some eyes with the posting of the photo on their Facebook page, the decision ultimately personalized the issue for the public.

However, this is still just drawing attention to a much bigger point. Heroin is no longer a drug used by a certain subset of society. It is used by couples with children, young adults and people from all backgrounds. Heroin is something that needs more attention as well as solutions.

Over 24 overdoses were reported in Akron on Friday, bringing the city total to 112. Most of these are due to the substances fentanyl or carfentantil, which dealers have been cutting their supplies with to boost the high and stretch resources, according to the drug enforcement administration.

Northeast Ohio in general has a high rate of these overdoses: 228 deaths were reported in Cuyahoga county in 2015. Coming from a university that is located in this area and has a regional campus located in East Liverpool, this uncomfortable truth hits home.

 For locals, the message taken away from the posted picture should be a call to action; to not only take issue with the photo and alarming statistics, but to recognize that the problem could be as close as the house next door.