A new sheriff is stepping into office in Cullman County. The issues Matt Gentry faces are not unfamiliar for his office over the last two decades.

The illegal drug trade continues to ruin lives across the county. Independent makers and distributors of deadly methamphetamine are dotted across the landscape, spreading their vile creation to residents. Law enforcement agents are also highly concerned about the rise of heroin, which is coming into the area with deadly consequences.

Authorities fear that heroin will eventually replace meth as the county’s top drug problem. It’s cheap, strong and offers dealers a chance to profit at the expense of others.

Compounding the problem for law enforcement officials is where to house the criminals who are violating the law. The state prison facilities are overcrowded, which could continue to crowd county jails with inmates who should be housed in other facilities.

Gentry also inherits the long-accepted practice of sheriffs accepting money from the state and federal governments to feed inmates. A few counties have gotten away from the practice, thus removing a political issue from those sheriffs’ offices and the potential for personal gain.

As Gentry ascends into the sheriff’s office he should lobby the county commission to take charge of the meal money program. As a means of reducing incarceration, the sheriff’s support of greater drug rehabilitation efforts in the community would potentially offer abusers a more realistic opportunity of escaping addiction.