According to the CDC there were 627 overdose deaths in WV in 2014, which was the highest drug-overdose death rate in the US in that year. The state also has one of the highest prescription rates of opioids in the US, and it ranks in the top 10 for the highest rate of prescriptions given out for high-dose opioids and extended-release opioids. Why? Why are so many WVs getting prescriptions for opioids? Is it related to manual labor jobs, like construction and coal mining? Those jobs are really hard on the body. Is it related to depression? According to the Gallup healthways wellbeing index, West Virginians are miserable. WVs current unemployment rate is at 5.7%, which is a drop from 6.9% a year ago. Six counties in WV are in a Great Depression. So, what can be done about these issues, to steer us away from drug abuse?
1. WV has already moved toward cracking down on overprescribing MDs, which has lead to illegal opioid trafficking from out of state and perhaps an uptick in Heroin use.
2. A law passed by the West Virginia legislature in 2013 requires every judicial circuit in West Virginia offer an adult drug court by July 2016. The purpose is to achieve a reduction in recidivism and substance abuse among offenders and to increase the likelihood of successful rehabilitation through early, continuous, and intense treatment; mandatory periodic drug testing; community supervision; appropriate sanctions and incentives; and other rehabilitation services, all of which is supervised by a judicial officer. I dont know how many are open.
3. Treatment options are available with using Methadone and other synthetics, but there is another safer option that may help with pain while possibly decreasing the need for opioids. Marijuana. According to what I read, which I will share, it does a better job at treating chronic pain that helping to wean people off of opioids, but, it seems to me that may help to stem the tide of people becoming addicted in the first place.
4. If people have good paying jobs that improve their quality of life, they are less likely to get on opioids in the first place. Which is why repealing "prevailing wage" and passing the "right to work" law was a bad idea.
5. Mental health/depression issues should be looked at. If it is depression that leads people to abuse opioids, perhaps treatment with anti-depressants should be a focus as well.
6. If six WV counties are in a Great Depression, then I would recommend that in those counties, the US military recruiters be given as great an access as possible. Really push the idea of joining the military to get funds to go to college and learn a skill. It could really create hope, where perhaps there isnt any.
So, thats what I think anyway. Keep cracking down on over prescribing, keep promoting drug courts and treatment over incarceration, allow West Virginians to use medical marijuana, repeal "right to work" and put "prevailing wage" back in place, have mental health as an increased focus in the medical field, and push the idea of West Virginia kids joining the military to learn a skill and get money for college, to help stamp out the hopelessness that may lead to drug abuse.
http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html
http://wvpublic.org/topic/needle-and-damage-done-west-virginias-heroin-epidemic
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-opioid-epidemic-is-so-bad-in-west-virginia-2016-4
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm
http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/162029/file-534269477-pdf/Gallup-Healthways_State_Rankings_Report_2013.pdf?&__hssc=242697629.1.1393779230778&__hstc=242697629.1a4b982b03639796d9d8352401e56a00.1393776938025.1393776938025.1393779230778.2&hsCtaTracking=a706f830-bf12-4782-8a6e-51fc2e144974%7C19bf7b53-67e4-425c-8245-3192cae5cf6d
http://www.courtswv.gov/lower-courts/adult-drug-courts/adult-drug-courts.html
http://wchstv.com/news/local/wvu-economists-say-six-west-virginia-counties-in-great-depression
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