West Virginia receives $38 million in federal funds to fight opioid epidemic

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Mike Stuart is calling Friday a record and historic day in the Mountain State.

Standing alongside top U.S. Department of Justice officials and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District Bill Powell, Stuart helped announce nearly $38 million in federal grants coming to the state in connection with the opioid crisis and public safety.

Stuart said many things are historic about the announcement.

U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart

“The funding, the partnership, the passion that we all share in terms of combating the opioid epidemic,” Stuart said. “Supporting law enforcement. Making sure we do everything we can to support the people of West Virginia and the United States.”

Officials at the Byrd Federal Courthouse on Friday morning included Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan for the Office of Justice Programs, Joseph Thornton, Director, Division of Administrative Services, Justice and Community Services (JCS) Section, Ann Urling, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Governor, and several representatives from West Virginia’s national congressional seats.

“This is a true testimony to the work being done in this state when you just look up here,” Sullivan said of being surrounded by leaders. “I do press conferences all around the country and we usually have only a couple of people back here. This shows true, honest commitment and collaboration.”

The grants, coming in various amounts aim to support state law enforcement professionals, help serve crime victims across the state, aid in the fight against domestic and sexual violence and strengthen the state and local, criminal and juvenile systems.

A $6.5 million grant to will support the Handle With Care initiative, a statewide program that serves children exposed to trauma and violence, a release stated. Further funding also expands the West Virginia Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, which steers low-level drug offenders away from prosecution.

According to a release, a third grant effort will provide telehealth services, including counseling and medication-assisted treatment, to underserved and geographically isolated communities in the state.

The remaining $1.5 million in Justice Department grants will support mental health services for at-risk youth in Berkeley County and a research-based peer recovery and data analysis program in the city of Charleston.

Powell said you cannot prosecute, educate or treat your way out of the opioid problem on its own terms but rather do all three equally and that’s when you see results.

U.S. Attorney Bill Powell

“Very much like a three-legged stool where law enforcement prevention and treatment are the three legs of that stool,” Powell said. Without all three of those legs being concentrated on, worked on and dedicated to, the stool with not stand.”

Powell expressed pride in securing the funding for the “heroic first responders” of the opioid crisis including first responders, the counselors, teachers, physicians, nurses, and addiction specialists.

Numbers show that West Virginia continues to be at the center of the opioid crisis with the highest age-adjusted rate of opioid overdose deaths in the country. According to data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 833 West Virginians died to opioids in 2017, a rate of 49.6 deaths per 100,000 persons, which is more than three times the national average.

The sharpest increase in opioid-involved overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl, the DOJ said.

“No state perhaps has been harder hit,” Sullivan said. “The pain is felt in every single corner. The pain is in families torn apart by addiction and kids orphaned by this epidemic. And in the brave first responders who place themselves in harm’s way when they arrive on the scene of an overdose.”

Similar dollars have come into the state in recent months to fight against opioids. This includes a September announcement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services included $7.4 million for the state from the Centers for Disease Control and $28 million in grant funding. An October announcement said the state was getting a $6.5 million grant from the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program (COAP).

Stuart said all of these dollars coming in gives hope for the future health of this state.

“We are rebuilding West Virginia, our best days are ahead. Dollars like this make tomorrow possible.”





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