BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — In an effort to deter substance abuse in Harrison County, residents will be able to get home drug testing kits as part of the “Give Me A Reason” initiative.
United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld and Bridgeport Police Chief John Walker helped kick off the program on Tuesday.
“We’re doing the best we can with enforcement and we realize that that’s an uphill battle and [substance abuse] is becoming a serious epidemic nationwide,” Bridgeport Police Chief John Walker said. “What we’re trying to do here locally is change the mindset and give the kids and young people a reason to say no.”
The drug tests are non-invasive and saliva-based, while screening for a variety of substances including marijuana, opioid painkillers, stimulants, tranquilizers, cocaine, methadone, and PCP. Results are available in less than 20 minutes.
“If somebody approaches the kids trying to give them drugs, they can say ‘Hey, listen. My parents have a drug test kit at home. I’m not going to do this,’ where now, sometimes you catch them off guard and kids will try it just because,” Walker said.
The kits also contain information on how parents can open a productive dialogue to discuss substance abuse with their children as well as helpful suggestions to locate educational and treatment resources.
The kits contain a prestamped envelope to voluntarily report test results. However, no personal information is collected or tracked.
Walker said there are about 500 kits available to the public currently, but there is no concern that they will run out.
“It’s a project supported by HIDTA [High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area]. They are funding this program and should we run out, there’s more to be had.”
The testing kits are provided through a partnership with the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program and
The kits will be distributed at the following locations:
1. Bridgeport Police Department, 515 West Main Street, Bridgeport, WV 26330
2. Stonewood Police Department, 112 Southern Avenue, Stonewood, WV 26301
3. Clarksburg Police Department, 222 West Main Street, Clarksburg, WV 26301
4. Bridgeport Family Pharmacy, 139 Conference Center Way, Bridgeport, WV 26330
5. Community Pharmacy, 1212 Johnson Ave., Bridgeport, WV 26330
6. Salem Colonial Pharmacy, 120 East Main Street, Salem, WV 26426
7. Village Pharmacy, 36 Railroad St., Lost Creek, WV 26385
8. Byard Mercer Pharmacy, 440 W. Main Street, Clarksburg, WV 26301
9. Town & Country Pharmacy, 100 Cost Avenue, Stonewood, WV 26301
10. Harrison-Clarksburg Health Department, 330 West Main Street, Clarksburg, WV 26301
“All Harrison County schools will have these kits to distribute to the partents, not all the schools but the middle schools and the high schools,” Walker said.
In addition to distributing the free drug testing kits, several other programs were announced on
Tuesday:
– The “Handle with Care” program will be implemented in the region, and as a result a formal system will be put into place to so that school officials will be notified whenever police officers respond to a dangerous or drug-involved situation where a child is present.
School officials will know that a child has been involved in a potentially traumatic situation and that he or she needs to be handled with care.
– The Appalachia HIDTA educational trailer will be coming to Harrison County and other parts of Northern West Virginia in the near future.
The trailer is designed to inform students about substance abuse in an interactive manner.
– A drug prevention competition will take place for the first time in West Virginia and high schools in Harrison County will participate.
This competition will involve students designing educational programming that addresses substance abuse prevention.
Students will then present their ideas at a regional competition and one school will be declared the champion.