Dr. Terry Johnson built his candidacy for state representative on the fact that he was going to take a tough stance on prescription drug abuse.

This week Johnson showed he was going to walk the walk and not just talk about it like many of his peers in the statehouse.

The legislator, representing Ohio’s 89th House District that includes the western part of Lawrence County, co-sponsored House Bill 93 that is designed to crack down on operations commonly known as pill mills by using technology and better oversight measures.

Johnson and his fellow legislators were armed with lots of data to make their point and built a solid case for these measures to become a law.

We hope the rest of the legislature gets on board quickly and helps push this through to start saving lives immediately by taking this fight directly to the source.

We applaud Johnson for his efforts to move very deliberately in addressing the issue he correctly identified as one of the biggest problems facing Appalachia and all of Ohio.

Far too often the wheels of change move much slower than we would like.

Johnson has shown that hard work, expertise in a field, and commitment to finding legitimate solutions are the keys for our state government.

This law could save lives and make a difference in our communities.