When Jeremiah Samples, senior policy adviser for the Legislature, gave his presentation on West Virginia’s addiction statistics, it was disappointing, though not surprising, to learn the Mountain State has made little progress in combating the drug epidemic. “We’ve led the nation since 2010 and every year since in fatal overdose deaths,” he said.
Addiction — not just to opioids, but to any addictive substance from alcohol to marijuana to meth — is a complicated problem. There is no one easily identifiable root cause, and no one-size-fits-all solution.
According to Psychology Today, addiction is influenced by “feelings about oneself, emotional state, quality of family relationships, social ties, community attributes, employment status, stress reactivity and coping skills, physical or emotional pain, personality traits, educational opportunities, compelling goals and progress toward them, opportunities for and access to rewards in life ….”
Think about that, then think about our state. Look at the map of where overdose deaths are highest: In the southern coalfields, where jobs are drying up, towns are withering and what work remains requires little education but lots of physical labor, which is how opioids got a foothold here to begin with. Granted, that’s true in many parts of West Virginia, which is why addiction pervades the whole state.
Addiction undeniably has a genetic component, but it has an equally undeniable environmental component as well. Most people who turn to substances and alcohol do so to escape. When we feel trapped and destitute and alone and can’t see a way out, the temporary reprieve granted by drugs or alcohol becomes a promise of relief too alluring to ignore. And once we start, it becomes hard to stop — much harder if the reality outside our euphoric substance-induced-bubble never improves.
Treating the roots of addiction requires tending to the roots of our communities. It means providing opportunities for education, dignified work and upward mobility. It means offering financial stability and a strong safety net. It means strengthening family and community bonds. All of that requires a diversified economy, living wages and robust social programs.
West Virginia has done a little of that. However, the state has invested more resources and energy into policies designed to punish people with addiction, while occasionally throwing scraps at programs that treat the symptoms of addiction. Our political leaders defund and limit harm reduction programs, needle exchanges and rehab programs, while proposing harsher penalties against people with substance use disorder. They pursue punitive approaches to homelessness and prop up shelters but don’t prioritize affordable housing. They subsidize labor-heavy industries, as well as low-wage service jobs, while rejecting investments in technology and clean energy that attract intellect-driven companies. They pour money into religious and private schools while refusing to fund the post-secondary education that leads to upward economic mobility.
It should come as no surprise, then, that West Virginia has made such little progress. We’ve tried a lot of things to combat the epidemic — just not the right things.
