West Virginia is one of the states with heavy use of prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons

Prescription drug abuse in West Virginia
Nationally, drug addiction and alcohol addiction are wreaking havoc with family’s lives.

Unintentional fatal drug overdoses nearly doubled from 1999 to 2004 and were the second leading cause of accidental death in the United States in 2004, behind only automobile crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control. *

The present state of affairs show that there were 6.4 million or 2.6% Americans using prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs nonmedically in the past month. Of these, 4.7 million used pain relievers. Current nonmedical use of prescription-type drugs among young adults aged 18-25 increased from 5.4% in 2002 to 6.3% in 2005. The past year, nonmedical use of psychotherapeutic drugs has increased to 6.2% in the population of 12 years or older with 15.172 million persons, second only to marijuana use and three times the use of cocaine. Parallel to opioid supply and nonmedical prescription drug use, the epidemic of medical drug use is also escalating with Americans using 80% of world’s supply of all opioids and 99% of hydrocodone. **

With all these statistics, it is easy to ignore the high local drug addiction statistics in states and cities. One of those states with high drug addiction, specifically high prescription drug addiction is West Virginia.

There were around 250,000 West Virginians in 2005 using prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons in 2005 and earlier this year, West Virginia was named the most medicated state in a study by Verispan, a health care information company. 

According to the report, the state filled 17.7 prescriptions per capita, more than six prescriptions over the national average of 11.5 prescriptions per capita.  While this figure does not necessarily mean these prescriptions are being filled for abuse, it does mean there are a lot of prescription drugs available.

The National College Health Assessment from 2008 reported that 8.6 percent of college students had reported using prescription drugs for nonmedical use the previous year.  A majority of those who reported abuse of prescription drugs said they had gotten the drugs from the medicine cabinets of family or friends, not physicians.

Recently, the city of Huntington has joined the Take Back initiative to try to fight this problem.  The initiative encourages people to remove prescriptions not being used from their homes to help fight abuse.
The state government has also been taking measures to fight prescription drug abuse.  During this past legislative session, a bill was passed creating the West Virginia Official Prescription Program Act.  The act helps to fight against falsely obtained prescriptions.

Prescription drug abuse is a problem all over US.  The key to fighting it begins with us, in our own neighborhood and in our own state.  It is our responsibility to encourage our government officials and legislators to do everything possible to lead us not only in fighting this abuse, but preventing  the future abuse of prescription drugs, as well.

If you or someone you know is struggling with prescription drug abuse or addiction and is in need of help, Cove Center for Recovery - Addiction Treatment Center offers a flexible and affordable addiction treatment program. Our aim is to treat the whole person, and not just an isolated symptom. During the treatment process we will work with the client to identify the factors that may have contributed to you drug abuse – home, work, relationships and medical history. We also believe that families have a vital role to play in the recovery process, and each addiction treatment program has a place for family participation, to educate them in the treatment process and to equip them for their role as supporters.

Reach out to us. Recovery from addiction is just a click or a phone call away. If the information you are looking for is not found here and you need immediate attention you may contact us:

Addiction Treatment for adults and young adults: 1-888-387-6237 http://www.covecenterforrecovery.com

Addiction Treatment for Teens: 1-888-757-6237http://www.inspirationsyouth.com
http://www.inspirationsteenrehab.com