West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says he’s transferring $10 million from his office’s consumer protection fund to the state’s general fund for substance abuse treatment efforts and to reduce a backlog of state police crime lab drug tests.
Morrisey announced the transfer Tuesday.
Morrisey says in a news release that it marks the fifth time that his office has voluntarily returned money to the general fund totaling $33.5 million. Last month he returned $5 million.
Morrisey says eliminating addiction to heroin and prescription drugs “demands a financial commitment.”
West Virginia had the nation’s highest death rates from drug overdoses in 2014.