One man wants to keep the problem and three others want to inherit it.

Sound like the beginning of some strange riddle? Actually, it’s one way to describe the current race for Floyd County’s next sheriff.

All four candidates — incumbent John K Blackburn and challengers Stevie Little, Curtis L. Lewis and Bobby Johnson — are all aware of the largest law enforcement issue facing anyone holding that particular public office.

Prescription drug abuse.

In the first week of January alone there were seven overdose deaths in the county and, according to the most recent statistics available through the state, the county saw more than 159,000 prescriptions for controlled substances handed out to a population of just over 42,000.

Of the four candidates, only Bobby Johnson was not available to comment on the current problem and what might be done in the event he wins the election. However, Johnson is a retired lieutenant with the Kentucky State Police and has said in the past that his experience as an undercover officer during his time with KSP would be something he would rely on in the event of his election to office.

Lewis, a resident of Auxier, says one of the keys to curbing the prescription drug problem in the county would be more involvement throughout neighborhoods in the county.

“We’re all a family in this county, more or less, and if you’ve got neighbors watching for you that could go a long ways in starting to get a handle on this problem,” Lewis said. “We started doing that here, asking our neighbors to watch our houses when we’re gone and doing the same for them.”

Beyond this, Lewis says closer evaluations of patients would be a help and that getting the people involved in the process, along with more discussions among school-age children, would be points he would focus on as well.

“The people could help a lot,” he said, “and a man could talk a lot more to the schools, get parents more involved.”

Stevie Little, a past deputy sheriff under Blackburn and considered by many to be the leading challenger against the 12-year incumbent, says a restructuring to include a full-time drug unit for the sheriff’s office would be one of his main objectives.”

There’s several things I’d like to do, but there are three things we need to focus on with this prescription drug abuse problem and that is education, treatment and enforcement,” Little said.

Teaching children at every age level about the dangers of drugs and using through programs will inform them, says Little, and those programs could be updated, he adds.

Other aspects Little says he hopes to install if elected as sheriff would include a drug unit within the department that would operate every day of the year and function throughout the county, gathering information from residents to store in a database that could then be utilized as needed.

“I don’t know if this can be stopped, but we can slow it down,” he said. “I’d like to see community patrol by deputies and I would have a full-time drug unit with fully trained detectives who have the experience needed. This kind of added involvement will deter traffic flow, and that would slow this thing down.”

Little also said he hopes to have a functioning tip-line, communication between law enforcement agencies without consideration as to who “gets the credit” and a focus on treatment for those unable to seek it in the past.

“Together we can get treatment to those who maybe couldn’t get it on their own,” he said. “Right now our jail is full of people who are on drugs and they don’t need to be there. They need to be getting treatment. We have to break that cycle.”

As for Blackburn, who has watched the prescription drug abuse problem throughout his 12 years as sheriff grow from a new fad in criminal activity to a full-blown epidemic, he says he will continue the work he has already put in place during that time.

“We’ve dealt with bootlegging and marijuana, which is illegal, but this is something where people can go get it legally and put it right in their pockets,” Blackburn said. “I was the first one in this county to ever take on doctor shopping cases, and in 14 months we had two officers who made over 300 undercover buys from about 160 people.”

Blackburn said he has recently hired an additional detective whose job will be to focus on the prescription drug problem, particularly as it relates to the new trend in pain clinics, or so-called “pill mills.”

“I’ve just hired a new detective and he’s going to be working at the pain clinics that are popping up all over the county,” said Blackburn. “And I’ve also assigned deputies to monitor hotels throughout the county where we have seen frequent overdose cases.”

Blackburn said that of the cases his department currently handles, about 40 to 50 percent are drug-related in some way, whether that be a domestic violence case, theft or fraud, and, as has been his policy in past years, he hopes to continue youth programs to educate kids about the drugs.