Leading drug expert to speak in Zanesville

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – A leading journalist and author on drug trafficking into the United States will be stopping in Zanesville to give a speech.

Sam Quinones is the author of ‘Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic.’ Quinones tracked where drugs were being shipped to in the US. Steve Carrel with Muskingum Behavioral Health said that Quinones found they were coming close to home.

“He’s a journalist and lived in Mexico and wanted to study the drug trade and how it works,” said Carrel. “He lived down there for five years then he started to follow the drug trade into the United States to see where does this stuff ends up. And interestingly he found himself in Portsmouth, Ohio.”

The event is Oct. 4 at Secrest Auditorium. Doors open at 5 p.m. and Quinones will give a keynote speech at 6 p.m. and then follow up with questions and answerers. Carrel said he hopes to reach a wide audience.

“We want to get a whole cross section of Zanesville-Muskingum County and our surrounding counties. This isn’t just a Muskingum County thing. We are promoting this in surrounding counties. We even have registration coming in from Columbus,” said Carrel.

The event is free and Carrel invites anyone to attend.