In October, sheriff’s deputies recovered the largest amount of Fentanyl to date in Lawrence County.

Acting on a tip from a staff member when they were at the hotel on an unrelated matter, deputies arrested two people from Dayton on possession and trafficking charges.

Deputies said the street value of the drug was more than $100,000, meaning that there were potentially 8,450 doses of the drug.

To put that in perspective, that is equivalent to more than 80 percent of Ironton’s population.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed it out of the headlines, the addiction crisis is still prevalent in our region.

Fentanyl has been at the center of so many overdose deaths in our region and we are thankful the hotel’s staff acted and deputies were able to intervene and stop the import of this deadly drug into our county.

Every dose that is not delivered to a potential victim is a victory for our community. And especially so on this scale.

It is likely that a large magnitude of future heartbreak and tragedy were prevented as a result and we commend all involved in this action.