Greg Lee, Kentucky’s HIV/AIDS educator, starts the town hall on a somber note. “How many people in this room know someone who has died of an overdose death?” It is a standing-room only crowd. Most hands go up. “Amazing,” he says, sadly. The meeting is at the Bourbon County Public […]
Read MoreOpioid Epidemic
Trump Believes the U.S. Can Arrest and Execute Its Way Out of Opioid Crisis. You Know Who Else Does? Philippines President Duterte.
In a speech in New Hampshire last week, President Trump advocated executing drug dealers as a way to “solve” the root of American drug addiction, including the opioid crisis. This is consistent with the president’s get-tough language on addiction, which places more value on—and will direct more government resources toward—enforcement […]
Read MoreDoes West Virginia Lead the Nation in Overdose Drug Death Rate? Yes
As he runs for a U.S. Senate seat, Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., is seeking targeted funding for states grappling with opioid addiction. Jenkins co-sponsored the Federal Opioid Response Fairness Act with Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire and several other lawmakers, including fellow West Virginia Republican Rep. David McKinley. The legislation, […]
Read MoreA Closer Look at Patrick Morrisey’s Family Ties to ‘Big Pharma’
Late on a Sunday night in mid March, West Virginia Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Morrisey mixed it up on Twitter with a critic. The back-and-forth started when Twitter user Todd Wentz — whose profile has 76 followers – responded to a tweet in which Morrisey attacked his Senate primary […]
Read MoreThe Lonely Drop Box: How Government Drug Take-Back Efforts Can Improve in Appalachia
On the Lonely Drop Box’s website, eight red dots mark where Southwest Virginia residents can find pharmacies with permanent drug drop-off boxes. Those dots — along with 17 blue dots representing law enforcement agencies with drop-off sites — are surrounded by gray markers showing pharmacies that don’t collect unwanted or […]
Read MoreRural Risk: Fighting Disease Amid The Opioid Crisis
Health officials in the Ohio Valley are investigating outbreaks of disease associated with needle drug use in what is emerging as a new public health threat from the region’s profound opioid addiction crisis. In northern Kentucky the health department is tracking a cluster of 43 recent HIV cases, about half of which […]
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