Dismas’ Diersen Director Ronyal Horton (left), President/CEO Ray Weis (second from left), and Executive Vice President Jan Kempf (right) attended a presentation by the award-winning author of Dreamland, Sam Quinones (second from right) during a weeklong session on the drug epidemic. The event was sponsored by a Clark County (IN) government and civic group consortium. Horton first introduced the book – the history of the origins of both the heroin and opioid epidemics here in the United States – to Weis and Kempf, who made it required reading for all management staff. Quinones shared that he never intended to write the story but was intrigued when his research on drugs in a small corner of Mexico ended up as the culprit in 14 deaths in Huntington, West Virginia. Both West Virginia and Kentucky are home to Dismas centers and feature prominently in his book.
