By Amelia A. Pridemore
Register-Herald Reporter
West Virginia tops the nation in per capita prescription drug overdoses, and police believe even more people will become addicted — and die — if the problem does not stop.
“We have to do this in education and in the home, from the pulpit and to the street,” said Ron Booker, coordinator of the TRIDENT drug task force that operates in Raleigh and Fayette counties. “It’s an epidemic, and it’s the worst in West Virginia. It’s going to take our communities to stop it.”
According to 2007 congressional testimony from Leonard J. Paulozzi, a medical epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia had the highest fatal and unintentional drug overdose rate in the nation — 16.7 per 100,000 population — during 2004.
The state medical examiner’s office reported 2,758 overdose deaths between 2001 and 2007, according to statistics provided by Booker. Suicides were excluded in those numbers. The vast majority of people who died used a combination of different drugs.
More than 600 died in 2007 alone, Booker noted.
“If more than 600 people died from murders, I’m sure every household would be discussing prevention,” he said. “People would be talking about environments, how not to be shot and prevention measures. Law enforcement would increase their activities.
“People are selling more prescription drugs than illegal drugs like cocaine and marijuana. The demand is now astronomical.”
Register-Herald Reporter
West Virginia tops the nation in per capita prescription drug overdoses, and police believe even more people will become addicted — and die — if the problem does not stop.
“We have to do this in education and in the home, from the pulpit and to the street,” said Ron Booker, coordinator of the TRIDENT drug task force that operates in Raleigh and Fayette counties. “It’s an epidemic, and it’s the worst in West Virginia. It’s going to take our communities to stop it.”
According to 2007 congressional testimony from Leonard J. Paulozzi, a medical epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia had the highest fatal and unintentional drug overdose rate in the nation — 16.7 per 100,000 population — during 2004.
The state medical examiner’s office reported 2,758 overdose deaths between 2001 and 2007, according to statistics provided by Booker. Suicides were excluded in those numbers. The vast majority of people who died used a combination of different drugs.
More than 600 died in 2007 alone, Booker noted.
“If more than 600 people died from murders, I’m sure every household would be discussing prevention,” he said. “People would be talking about environments, how not to be shot and prevention measures. Law enforcement would increase their activities.
“People are selling more prescription drugs than illegal drugs like cocaine and marijuana. The demand is now astronomical.”