On the recordOctober 21, 2015
My State of West Virginia is experiencing a crisis. West Virginia is leading the country in a rather grim category: drug overdoses. This issue goes beyond party lines, and it is ripping our State apart. President Obama is bringing national attention to our drug crisis by coming to my district this afternoon to discuss the prescription drug and heroin epidemic. The statistics are disturbing. Overdoses in West Virginia increased by 134 percent between 2012 and 2013, which accounts for about 34 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 West Virginia residents. This overdose rate is more than double the national average. There is no magical solution to this epidemic. We need local, State, and Federal officials to work together to effectively fight back. One of the ways that we can do this is to have the Federal Government support the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, also known as HIDTA. The HIDTA program provides needed funds to law enforcement to combat drug trafficking while also helping local treatment and prevention efforts. I have been hosting roundtable discussions across my district to hear directly from communities that are affected by the drug epidemic. I recently held one of these discussions in the town of Romney, West Virginia, in September, to talk about the ongoing issues they face in that community.…
