SURFSIDE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Representatives from the Surfside Beach Police Department, Horry County Police Department, Horry County Sheriff’s Office, Myrtle Beach Police Department, DHEC and the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office met in Surfside Beach on Monday night for a “Heroin Awareness Symposium.”
“This is really our first step here in Surfside Beach and in the Surfside Beach Police Department in determining what the community feels like our approach should be to this,” said Interim Chief of the Surfside Beach Police Department, Kenneth Hofmann.
Around 60 members of the community came to the meeting, including recovering heroin addict, Brantley Saunders.
“I was a heroin addict for twelve years,” he said. “I’ve been in recovery for six years, or trying to recover for six years, and I keep going back to it.”
Saunders is now receiving treatment at Refuge of Hope in Myrtle Beach.
“It’s the best recovery I’ve ever experienced,” he added.
Saunders said gatherings like the one held on Monday night are important for many reasons, but especially for people like him to reach out to the community.
“We get to talk with the people and help people and lead them into recovery,” said Saunders. “We need to, as a community with this heroin epidemic, we need to learn how to do that more and more.”
Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor, Jimmy Richardson, also spoke at the meeting. He discussed the big increase in arrests his office has seen that revolve around the heroin and opioid problem.
These are the numbers Richardson presented for arrests that involved heroin or pills:
2010: 66 arrests
2011: 64 arrests
2012: 81 arrests
2013: 100 arrests
2014: 89 arrests
2015: 257 arrests
2016: 591 arrests
Hofmann said Surfside Beach doesn’t have a large number of heroin-related incidents, but he wants the department to work with other agencies and the public to fight the epidemic.
“Across the South Strand, we want to try to help everybody to try to come together and work together on this problem,” he added.
