Opioid Abuse in West Virginia
To understand how great of an issue opioid use is in West Virginia we first have to understand what an opioid is. The National Institute on Drug Abuse classifies opioids as illegal drugs such as heroin, but not limited to legal drugs such as fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone (Vicodin), codeine, morphine, and more (“Opioids”). When an individual ingests these drugs they attach to receptors in your brain, spinal cord, nerves system, and other vital organs to block pain messages sent throughout your body. Once attached to these receptors a large amount of dopamine is released in your body causing you to feel reward and pleasure. The catch is that even though short-term you feel happy opioids long-term effect can be very detrimental to your health. Long-term exposure to opioids is linked to insomnia, pneumonia, and addiction, causing your body to crave more and become dependent on the drug (“West Virginia Opioid Summary”). Understanding how opioids affect the human body is half the battle when trying to raise awareness to prevent the abuse of these drugs.
To ensure the opioid epidemic disappears it is important to educate teens all throughout West Virginia on the effects of opioids abuse and also what to do if someone they know has an addiction or has overdosed. Currently, 20% of high school seniors believe they can easily access heroin and 57% of teens who have abused a form of opioid has admitted to receiving them from a loved one (Volkow). Most opioid addictions are started from a legal position where the person being prescribed the medication could use too much and by the time they run out they would have already developed an addiction. By including education programs in schools where they talk about the effects of using the drug and how to responsibly consume them if they are prescribed could greatly decrease the amount of opioid-related deaths in the state. By teaching students about how to properly dispose of their pills could also greatly decrease the number of pills there are on the street. A great example of proper disposal of your prescription medication would be to take your excess medication back to the pharmacy where they can take care of the pills accordingly.
Currently, prescription pills are more common than people in West Virginia. In the city of Williamson, there are more than 6500 pills per resident (Gutierrez, et al.). One way to bring the number of pills down is by re-educating doctors to use the less harmful substitutes for opioids such ibuprofen or even forgoing the medication if it is not 100% necessary that the patient is on that intense of a pain medication. With a doctor emphasizing on the effects of opioid use and educating their patients on the harms could greatly affect one’s decision to be prescribed opioids or not.
Nebraska is currently the state with the lowest numbers of reported drug and opioid usage in the nation and is still decreasing. By understanding what they have legislatively done to achieve this rank is vital to help treat the epidemic in West Virginia. The most important law passed to aid the number of pills found on the street was implementing a stricter electronic prescription drug monitoring program (). Programs like these allow the state to see the dosage and the number of pills prescribed to an individual over a period of time and flag anything that seems suspicious or irregular. Having this program can help the state combat addiction by regulating the number of pills one can obtain. Other equally as important forms of legislation passed by Nebraska include easy access to overdose-reversing drugs such as Narcan and granting immunity from prosecution to those who call for help for help during an overdose (). Having the buffer of not being prosecuting when calling out for help will significantly decrease the amount of drug-related deaths in West Virginia and will also allow for people to be put in rehab facilities that will properly educate them on opioid abuse as well as treat their addictions so that they can function without being under the influence of the drug.
It is important to seek help and to educate yourself on the effects of opioid use. If you or a loved one lives in West Virginia and currently suffers from a drug addiction please seek help by calling a support hotline such as HELP4WV. They are a great resource and organization that allows you to contact them 24/7 all year long. They offer many forms of support and education to aid you in dealing with you or a loved one’s addiction.
Resources
Gual, Kate, and Logan Seacrest. “The Opioid Epidemic: Nebraska’s Response to a National Crisis.” Legislative Research Office, Mar. 2018.
Gutierrez, Gabe, et al. “This Tiny West Virginia Town Is Awash in Prescription Painkillers.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, Feb. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/welcome-williamson-w-va-where-there-are-6-500-opioid-n843821.
“Opioids.” NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids.
Volkow, Nora D. “Opioid Facts for Teens.” NIDA, July 2018, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/opioid-facts-teens/letter-to-teens.
“West Virginia Opioid Summary.” NIDA, 28 Feb. 2018, www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-summaries-by-state/west-virginia-opioid-summary.
