Emmy Rinehart
This September, 13 people in the Appalachian region and WV were caught unlawfully distributing opioids and other controlled substances, and 11 of them were physicians. Seventeen million pills were distributed by just 13 people.
Within the same month, another doctor in Virginia was convicted and put in jail for 40 years after prescribing 500,000 doses of opioids to his patients. His malpractice resulted in the tragic death of a West Virginia woman.
In a state where there is a, “Pain? Call: xxx xxx xxxx” sign seemingly on every road you drive on, you would think that the physicians in WV would be trying to ease people’s pain, not prolong their suffering. An article from earlier this year stated that the whole state is like ground-zero for this epidemic, and they couldn’t be more right.
Based on data from 2017, West Virginia saw 58.7 out of 100,000 deaths are due to drug overdoses, making it the state with the highest number of overdose-related deaths. A state that deals with so many hardships should not have another obstacle to face when they already struggle so much with things like having access to clean water and boosting their less than great economy.
The best way to slow down this issue in WV and other states is to actively seek out and prosecute these doctors who are abusing their medical licenses by writing outrageous numbers of prescriptions for opioids. By setting the example that this is not something that will be allowed to continue, it will be a great deterrent for other medical professionals who may be going down the same path according to a U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia who has worked on cases regarding doctors abusing their licenses.
While cracking down on these physicians is a great place to start, the foundation of a heavily addicted state has already been laid, and additional support will be needed to heal it. Thankfully, WV will also receive $7.4 million from the CDC and $28 million in grant funding to go towards tracking overdose data, and to support prevention, treatment and recovery services. Other states in the top-tier of this epidemic are also set to receive funding, which will help prevent the issue from continuing by crossing state lines.
The WV community is very aware that this matter is of utmost importance, and they are making their voices heard, which will also be of great help on this issue.
West Virginia is in the unique position to be a national leader in the fight against opioids, and they can’t afford not to be. If this money is used effectively for these vital resources, the state could pave the way for other states to do the same.
Almost Heaven, Almost Hell 