When I first investigated the opioid epidemic ravaging Kentucky the villain was obvious: Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family. In the 1990s Purdue spent tens of millions marketing OxyContin, lavishing health professionals with promotional gifts and expenses-paid conferences at resorts. It touted the drug as non-addictive and safe for […]
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President Trump announced during a recent visit to China that state-owned China Energy would invest $83.7 billion in West Virginia over the next 20 years, but will it be good for West Virginia? Yes — if it happens, and if the state doesn’t give away an arm and a leg in […]
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This is chapter four of Derek Akal’s Struggle to Stay. In the first chapter, we met a young man from Harlan County, Kentucky, who thought a college football scholarship was going to be his ticket out. But a serious neck injury led Derek to drop out and move back home. When he […]
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Recently, 100 Days in Appalachia published an interview with Christa Foster, an addiction specialist in West Virginia. Foster spoke at length about what she sees as appropriate and effective policies for combating the opioid epidemic, offering her assessment of some of President Trump’s new proposals, including the necessity for more […]
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Progress in rural treatment options could have wide benefits for other underserved populations. But many challenges remain. Some of the communities hit hardest by the opioid epidemic are in rural America. However, many of those same communities lack access to comprehensive treatment. To address the epidemic’s increasing reach, the White […]
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Democrat Ralph Northam built his 9-point victory with slight gains over Clinton’s 2016 presidential performance. But rural Virginia is more Republican today than it was during the last governor’s race of 2013. Political observers are interpreting Democrats’ big wins in Virginia on Tuesday as a repudiation of President Donald Trump, […]
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