Kettering communities fighting back against drug epidemic

Ten years, three months and two weeks ago, Brandon Roark decided to get clean.

He's even got a tattoo inked on his arm, as a daily reminder.

"I started smoking pot when I was 13," he said. "I did every other drug under the sun. Name one, did them all."

Eventually, he overdosed, then fell into a weeks-long coma that left him in a wheelchair.

"I've had 10 friends die since my overdose," Roark said. "Seven heroin, three others from multiple drugs."

Roark, like others across the Miami Valley, wants something done to get a handle on the deadly epidemic. Meanwhile, Kettering Police are adjusting their tactics.

"Bolstered up our Vice narcotics unit," said Officer John Jung, Public Information Officer with the Kettering Police Department. "There used to be one or two officers working in that unit. We now have four officers."