By Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — More drug overdoses occurs in the Appalachian region than other parts of the country, so senators in West Virginia and Virginia are calling on the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for more help to combat drug-trafficking.
U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., along with U.S. Senators Mark Warner, D-Va., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., sent a letter this week to Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), pressing for additional assistance to combat drug-trafficking in the Appalachian region.
While some counties in West Virginia have seen a slight decline in overdose deaths, West Virginia remains the state with the highest number of overdoses in the country, according to the senators’ letter. Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that in 2020, 1,330 lives were lost to drug overdoses – a death rate of 81.4 per 100,000 total population. The national average is 28.3 per 100,000…
