'Nowhere To Go But Up ' — A Small Town Confronts Its Addiction Crisis
In September 2016, the town of East Liverpool, Ohio, captured national attention when a photo of a local couple's overdose went viral. It showed a woman and her boyfriend sprawled comatose in the front seats of a car, while the woman's 4-year-old grandson sat in the back. The image was originally posted by the local police department. Overnight, East Liverpool, a town of just over 11,000 people, became the face of the opioid crisis enveloping parts of the country.
Like many small communities in the Appalachian region, East Liverpool struggles with a foundering economy. The town is in the Mahoning Valley region, once home to a thriving steel industry. The region now has high unemployment and low average income, and has seen a steadily rising opioid overdose rate over the last decade.
