Obama to Announce $1.7 Million for Drug Abuse Treatment in West Virginia

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Senator Joe Manchin join President Obama at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta, Georgia Tuesday. According to a press release, Obama will announce Administrative actions to further the fight against the drug epidemic.

The Administrative actions include expanding access to treatment by releasing $94 million to 271 Community Health Centers to increase substance use disorder treatment services. West Virginia community health centers in Huntington, Weirton, Dawes, Scott Depot and Rock Cave will receive a total of $1.7 million in funding.

Additionally, the Department of Agriculture is expanding its $1.4 million Rural Health and Safety Education Grant Program to include a focus on substance use disorders in rural communities.

Featured speakers at the summit will include Andrea Darr, of West Virginias Center for Children Justice and Chad Napier, Education Coordinator for Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area in West Virginia and Virginia. Darr and Napier will be presenting on the Handle With Care Program, a West Virginia pilot program designed to~provide schools with a “heads up” when a child has been identified at the scene of a traumatic event.

Finally, as part of a private sector initiative, more than 60 medical schools nationwide, including all three from West Virginia, are announcing that beginning in fall 2016, they will require students to take some form of prescriber education on opioid prescription in order to graduate. 

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.