Carbon County has a drug problem and officials are fighting back.

Nearly two dozen Carbon County agencies and concerned residents gathered at the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission in Lehighton on Tuesday morning for the first opiate task force meeting. Attendees included police, probation officers, court administration, treatment facilities, nonprofit organizations, clergy, county and state elected officials, and a few parents who have been affected by a child using drugs."This is the starting point," said Chris Sorrentino, case management supervisor for the drug and alcohol commission. "The state is starting to recognize that there is a major opioid problem in all counties. ... We know how big of a problem it is and the lives that it has been affecting and the state is now giving us an opportunity. The state is finally starting to listen to us when we have been saying there is a problem for years."He said that the goal of the opiate task force is to identify ways of best handling the addiction problem in Carbon County.Carolee Boyer, outpatient supervisor for the drug and alcohol commission, said that opiate addiction typically begins on the doctor level because a person gets injured and prescription pain medication is prescribed to help manage the pain.Some people become hooked on these pills and begin "doctor shopping" in the hopes of getting prescriptions.Boyer said that right now, there are no mandatory prescribing regulations in place, so the problem continues to grow.State Rep. Doyle Heffley said that there is legislation in the works to hopefully combat this issue by creating a centralized database to cut back on the ability of doctor shopping for prescription medications.Jim Thorpe Police Chief Joseph Schatz said that in addition to opiates, his department is seeing a growing trend of meth use.Boyer agreed that this trend shift was occurring across the county."A lot of people that come through our doors or give us a call who are primarily (addicted to) opiates are turning to meth," she said. "When asked the reason, they say they weren't able to find the opiate and turned to this option."As a result, there have been a growing number of overdoses coming into hospitals for treatment and an increasing number of people driving under the influence or committing crimes."Approximately 1,700 people were fingerprinted, and there were 500 DUIs and 500 drug cases last year," said Jim Dodson of Carbon County Juvenile Probation."The problem is DUIs are not alcohol-related anymore.""In the past 12 months, 56 percent of DUIs were drug related," Boyer added.Because of this, court systems get bogged down, jails get overcrowded and probation offices have more supervision cases come across their desks.Boyer and Sorrentino asked the group what they felt needs to be addressed to combat this epidemic.Answers included treating the underlying issues, such as home-life or mental health problems, that fuel addiction; educating the public on the resources that are available to individuals; and changing the stigma about addiction because it is a disease and not a person's failures.A few present suggested bringing in recovering addicts to the task force to talk about what helped them turn their lives around.Parents said that one major issue they are finding is that there is a breakdown of language about drug terms that addicts understand but others don't.Moving forward, the group decided that it will work to find viable options to serve the community through prevention efforts, intervention efforts and treatment options.Officials also hope to work with health care providers, agencies, law enforcement and those affected by addiction.The next meeting of the Carbon County Opiate Task Force will take place at 9 a.m. on April 26 at the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission office.