It goes by many names on the street.

Smack. Horse. Junk. H.

A Detroit woman sacrificed the next 11 years of her life to traffic 300 grams of it through Lawrence County.

Evelyn Robinson took a gamble by shuttling heroin to the Tri-State, but really, she, and whoever else may have been involved, was meeting a demand.

Heroin has been a growing problem in Lawrence County, the Tri-State and the State of Ohio since lawmakers began the crackdown of prescription pill mills during the past several years.

With the free flow of pills effectively cut off, opioids became more difficult to come by for those looking for a fix. Heroin became the cheaper drug of choice.

More and more people are chasing the dragon, and in many cases, chasing it right to their graves.

In 2012, heroin-related deaths rocketed 60 percent to 680 in Ohio, according to the most recent data available from the state department of health. That’s more than one third of the total drug overdose deaths that year.

As long as there are people willing to traffic heroin and people willing to use it, supply and demand will keep law enforcement busy.

Robinson’s recent conviction and maximum sentence was a big step forward in slaying that dragon and hopefully it will send a message to dealers that drugs will not be tolerated in Lawrence County.