CHESAPEAKE, W.Va. — Del. Chris Stansbury (R-Kanawha) continued a series of drug addiction summit meetings Monday night, holding a forum in eastern Kanawha County.
“It’s basically rotting our neighborhoods from the inside out,” said David Howell of Cabin Creek, who helped organize the summit at the Dr. Lisa Curry Annex.
Stansbury said although some progress had been made in the 2016 Legislative Session in tackling addiction, there was still some unfinished business to work with bills that hadn’t made it through.
“Now’s the time through interim meetings to work with other legislators to find out what their objections may have been to the bills. To begin to refine those bills so we can bring them back out next time,” he said. “There were some good pieces that we had to leave on the table.”
Chelsea Walker-Gaskins, Charleston attorney running for the House in the 36th District, said almost all of the cases she deals with involve addiction.
“I’d say about eight out of 10 of my domestic relation cases involve parents who are on drugs, and probably about 100 percent of any cases I deal with involving abuse and neglect involves parents who are on drugs. So it’s a huge problem in this community,” said Walker-Gaskins. “The people that suffer most are the kids.”
Stansbury had previously hosted summits at the state Capitol Complex, and on Charleston’s East End.
“When I first opened this evening, I said it was a traveling conversation, and that’s what it really is,” he said. “There are people in these communities that have been dealing with substance abuse for a number of years, whether its a personal issue or someone in their family. They may or may not come out and talk and share their story unless we come into the community.”
A Recovery Point addiction recovery facility was scheduled to open in August on Charleston’s West Side. Program Coordinator Rachel Thaxton announced Monday night that it had been pushed back until November.
“Traditionally, that’s been an underserved population. It’s difficult to find women-only facilities,” Stansbury said. “There’s a large addicted population of women, and having it on the West Side is a perfect location for it.”
The drug addiction crisis had seemed to cause an influx of dealers from across state lines, Howell said.
“We have people coming in from out-of-state, with out-of-state tags up this way selling. They get our kids to push it for them. It’s huge.”
Other public officials at Monday night’s summit included state Chief Health Officer Rahul Gupta, Dr. Kevin Yingling, Founding Dean of the Marshall School of Pharmacy and Chief Operating Officer of the state Attorney General’s Office Anthony Martin.