CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Additional help is on the way to North Central West Virginia in the continuing fight against opioid abuse in the Mountain State.
In conjunction with the cities of Bridgeport and Clarksburg and officials at the state and federal level, West Virginia’s second Tactical Diversion Squad will officially launch in Clarksburg. A TDS combines resources at federal, state, and local levels in an effort to disrupt the supply of controlled substances.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) said the opioid epidemic is cutting a wide swath through the country, but is particularly devastating in West Virginia.
“This is something that I think will really help our state and local police officers so they can target pill mills and doctors and pharmacies that are really going and flooding our state with too many opioids,” Capito said.
West Virginia lead all 50 states in 2014 in prescription drug overdose deaths–approximately 31 per every 100,000 residents.
“These issues of opioid abuse and heroin addiction cut across party lines, cut across economic lines,” Senator Capito said. “We are all joined together here to try and find solutions.”
President Obama visited West Virginia last October to highlight the damage caused by the epidemic. Senator Capito said it’s a rare instance of an issue that has transcended usual partisan politics.
“It begins with prescription drugs and then ends in heroin and a lot of times in heroin overdoses and then in death,” Capito said. “I’m worried that we’re going to lose a generation. I think the President, and many of us, are worried about this. The very thing–we’re worried about babies being born addicted to drugs. We have to have a full court press here.”
Senator Capito said she believes the next President–regardless of who it is–will likely be forced to aggressively combat the issue.
The creation of a second TDS in Harrison County will free up resources for the Charleston-based squad that already exists. Capito said those resources are vital because of how pervasive the problem has become–with the solutions needed becoming more and more complex and varied.
“Just drawing off prescription drugs is not going to eliminate heroin,” she said. “Just drawing off the supply is not going to impact the treatment and recovery. There is a whole spectrum of solutions from treatment, recovery, interdiction, all of life-saving drugs for overdoses.”
Though specific details on the Tactical Diversion squad remain limited, the funding from the Senate Appropriations Committee is available.
“I think we’ve come a really long way,” Capito said. “West Virginia, I think, is ahead of the curve on this because our problem is so intense and it grew so quickly.”
West Virginia has the third highest rate of prescribing painkillers–approximately 143 prescriptions for every 100 people.