CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Republican gubernatorial candidate and state Senator Bill Cole (R – Mercer, 06) spoke to about 75 people in Clarksburg Monday night at a town hall focused on West Virginia’s opioid addiction crisis.
The candidate spoke for roughly 20 minutes Monday evening–highlighting non-specific policies on how to combat the drug epidemic–before fielding questions and comments from the floor that included mothers who lost children to drugs, recovering addicts, and family of current addicts.
“West Virginia leads the nation in overdoses, and Harrison County leads the state,” Cole said. “I think it’s a completely appropriate place to be. We have to find solutions. We have to find ways we can in fact fight back against this epidemic.”
While it’s well known that West Virginia has led the nation in recent years in terms of drug overdoses per capita, Harrison County has suffered from it’s own set of peculiar drug issues; including the exceptionally high rate of newborns addicted to drugs.
Cole said his strategy, which will be laid out in additional detail at a policy speech next week, will include an all-of-the-above strategy focusing on improving local infrastructure to bring in new jobs while simultaneously helping West Virginia’s work force improve it’s education and health.
“We don’t have the luxury of chicken and the egg,” Cole said. “West Virginia’s in very, very tough financial times, and they’re probably going to get worse before they get better. We have to go at it all at one time. We have to create the jobs–the job opportunities. We have to make sure we have an educated work force. We need to make sure we have a drug-free work force.”
Cole ruled out the deregulation of marijuana, medicinal marijuana, and the legalization of marijuana as potential alternatives in spite of new studies–including from researchers at Columbia University–that show marijuana could play a positive role in reducing opioid dependence.
“For the state’s that have legalized marijuana, if you go to talk them about the unintended consequences–the DUI’s, the inability of an officer to determine on the spot if you are high or not high–I don’t want to start having the deaths on the highways be the next issue we are taking up,” Cole said.
“We need to make sure we invest in our infrastructure so that those companies can locate and thrive here. We don’t have the luxury of picking one winner. We have to go after all of them at one time.”
Cole did say he’d like to go line-by-line and find the programs that currently are providing positive results and double down on them–while eliminating programs that are ineffective. In particular, Cole cited the Huntington-based program Recovery Point, which claims a 68 percent abstinence rate among alumni regarding drug and alcohol use.
“Recovery Point is a long-term treatment program, and the graduates from Recovery Point program tend to succeed because what the Recovery Point people do is help them get a job,” Cole said.
City Construction Company held the town hall in their offices–formerly a school in the Clarksburg community of Summit Park.