Drugs Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Supreme Court Rules OxyContin Makers Eligible For Civil Charges

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a deal Thursday that would have shielded OxyContin makers from lawsuits over their role in the opioid epidemic. Critics say Purdue Pharma knew OxyContin was addictive when they aggressively pushed its sale.

The United States Supreme Court rejected a deal Thursday that would have granted OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma immunity from civil charges for its role in the opioid epidemic. Now, West Virginia’s attorney general says he will continue to fight for money from drug manufacturers.

Critics say the company knew of OxyContin’s addictive quality while aggressively pushing its sale, even as hundreds of thousands of Americans died from opioid overdose since the 1990s.

West Virginia has been one the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. At least 14,000 residents have died from opioid-related overdose since 2001, and between 2022 and 2023 the state’s overdose rate rose even as the national rate fell.

The nixed deal with the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, would have provided $6 billion to addiction prevention and recovery services nationally, with tens of millions of dollars slated for West Virginia.

But West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said that, regardless, the court’s decision marked an important step toward holding opioid manufacturers legally responsible for the fallout of opioid addiction.

“We have fought hard — and we’re still fighting — to bring a sense of healing to the state,” Morrisey said in a press release Thursday. “With this decision, we will double down on our efforts to hold those who are accountable for the damage that’s been done to our state. We’ll be examining new ways to bring this case to closure.”

Morrisey added that, while money from legal settlements with opioid manufacturers cannot “bring back the lives lost from the opioid epidemic,” he hopes it can “provide much needed help to those affected.”

Probe Of Illegal Drugs Delivered By Drone At W.Va. Prison Nets 11 Arrests

Eleven suspects have been arrested in an investigation into illegal drugs allegedly delivered by drones into a federal prison in southern West Virginia. Another man under investigation who fled officers was later found dead, authorities said.

McDowell County Sheriff James Muncy said his office was contacted in November by officials at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution, McDowell in Welch to help with increased drone use in the area. In December, the sheriff’s office started receiving multiple tips about drone deliveries.

Muncy said in a statement Friday that the arrests were made from mid-December through early February. The charges included introduction or attempts to introduce contraband into a correctional facility, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, unlawfully operating a drone, terroristic acts and felony conspiracy.

Muncy didn’t say what drugs were allegedly flown into the facility or whether any of those arrested are inmates there.

A Louisville, Kentucky, man wanted on an outstanding warrant in the investigation fled officers on foot Feb. 9. Members of the sheriff’s office found him dead on Feb. 15. The statement didn’t indicate where he was found, and his body was sent to the state medical examiner for an autopsy.

One of the arrested suspects is a juvenile, Muncy said. In addition, two suspects were charged with assault and battery on an officer and fleeing on foot. Another suspect in the case was charged with being a fugitive from Pennsylvania.

Most of the suspects remained held Monday at the Southwestern Regional Jail in Holden. Jail records didn’t indicate whether they have attorneys who could comment on the charges.

Senate Judiciary Discusses Banning, Regulating 3 Substances

The Senate Judiciary Committee spent close to three hours Thursday afternoon discussing a committee substitute for Senate Bill 546, which would update the state’s list of controlled substances.

About a dozen community members were invited to the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday afternoon to discuss issues around the banning of three substances in a meeting that stretched for hours, before a confusing ending.

The committee spent close to three hours discussing a committee substitute for Senate Bill 546, which would update the state’s list of controlled substances.

The bill would add dozens of substances to the state code, but the committee’s discussion focused on three substances: the hemp-derived cannabinoids Delta 8 and Delta 10, as well as the derivative of a Southeast Asian plant with opioid-like properties known as Kratom.

Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, is the bill’s lead sponsor. Throughout discussion, he compared the current situation of Delta 8, Delta 10 and Kratom in West Virginia to the start of the opioid epidemic.

“We’re seeing similarities today to what we saw at the beginning of the opiate crisis,” Stuart said. “If we could go back in time and make a change to what happened to this countryside in West Virginia, I think we would have made those changes.”

As written, the bill would put the three substances in Schedule 1, along with opiates, methamphetamine and psychedelics such as LSD. Stuart’s argument, supported by several guests including a police lieutenant, a psychiatrist specializing in addiction and the Poison Control Center, revolved around not only the danger of the substances, but specifically their ease of availability.

“The drug normalization of America knows no partisanship or socio-economical notation,” Stuart said. “This is not going to be an easy vote, because it’s become so widely dispersed throughout West Virginia.”

Other senators asked why the substances under discussion didn’t merit regulation instead of a full ban. Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, asked as much of Amy Minor, the director of regulatory and environmental affairs with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.

Minor’s office already regulates the legitimate production and sale of industrial hemp products in the state, including Delta 8 and Delta 10. Some Delta 8 and Delta 10 products sold in the state are illicit, and there is currently no regulation of Kratom in West Virginia.

“You definitely support an age restriction just the same as we do alcohol, same as we do tobacco, same as we do medical cannabis?” Caputo asked.

Minor said the Department of Agriculture was in favor of an age restriction of 18 years and older.

“Yeah, I don’t know why we don’t have it for this. I would rather see us, Mr. Chairman, moving in a direction of a regulation rather than what direction we’re moving here, but I’m just one opinion,” Caputo said.

Caputo’s point was supported by several guests, including an industrial hemp farmer and a woman who uses Kratom to mitigate symptoms of Lyme Disease.

More than two hours into the meeting, there were still several witnesses who had not been heard and the chairman, Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, indicated a desire to adjourn and reconvene Friday to continue hearing testimony. However, the committee was thrown into procedural confusion after Sen. Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, unexpectedly moved to vote on the bill, ending public testimony and committee discussion.

After several other procedural motions, including a motion to adjourn the meeting in lieu of a vote, Trump was required to consult with the Senate parliamentarian, who informed him that the motion to vote would need to be carried through.

“I have no no more to say except for we heard all this testimony. I think that we’re all tired, but we all know how we’re going to vote on this and we should just agree to the language,” Chapman said.

The committee agreed on the language of the committee substitute for Senate Bill 546 and moved to report the same to the House. However, no bill was reported to the Senate from the Judiciary Committee Friday morning.

Groups Collecting Prescription Drugs For Take Back Day

For more than ten years, the Drug Enforcement Administration has organized National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. It’s a safe way to dispose of expired or unwanted medications. Groups across the state are collecting old prescription drugs Friday and Saturday.

For more than ten years, the Drug Enforcement Administration has organized National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

It’s a safe way to dispose of expired or unwanted medications. Groups across the state are collecting old prescription drugs Friday and Saturday.

A majority of people who abuse prescription drugs obtained them from family and friends – and the home medicine cabinet. To remove the hazard, groups will accept tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs. Liquids and needles will not be accepted. Vaping devices and cartridges are allowed,

The collections are also meant to prevent unused prescription drugs ending up in the trash, where they can be retrieved and abused or illegally sold. It also helps to prevent unused drugs from being flushed, contaminating the water supply.

Most Sheriff’s offices will take part including Oceana Police Department in Wyoming County and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department and Crab Orchard Pharmacy. Drugs can also be dropped off at the Charleston Police Department and several pharmacies across the capitol city.

Most Sheriff’s offices will take part including in Raleigh County as well as the Oceana Police Department in Wyoming County. Drugs can also be dropped off at the Charleston Police Department and several pharmacies across the capitol city.

The DEA has created a collection site locator where you can find a location near you.

'Drugs: Costs And Consequences' Traveling Exhibit Opens In Charleston

A traveling exhibit to educate students and the public about the dangers of drugs opened this week at the West Virginia Culture Center.

The arrival of the DEA Museum’s traveling exhibit Drugs: Costs and Consequences in Charleston is through a partnership between the substance use prevention program GameChanger, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the DEA Educational Foundation.

Since it was first introduced to the public at venues across the country, more than 22 million people, namely families and school children, have visited the exhibit. The interactive 5,000 square foot exhibit offers a real life look at drug production and trafficking, money laundering, the science behind addiction and the DEA’s work in West Virginia.

GameChanger founder Joe Bozcek said the DEA-sponsored exhibit will be open through Jan. 15.

“This is real stuff, I mean it is a real drug lab, they show you what the stuff looks like, how it’s made and the things that are done,” he said. “I hope everyone in West Virginia will take advantage of it because it will help save lives.”

Exhibit organizers hope Drugs: Costs and Consequences will serve as a springboard to community conversation by educating future generations on the high cost of drug abuse on families, kids and communities.

New Podcast Delves Into Morgantown Disappearance, W.Va. Counterculture

A podcast titled “I Was Never There” aims to shed new light on the disappearance, amidst a backdrop of the era’s “Back to the Land” movement.

The disappearance of Marsha Ferber has puzzled the Morgantown community for more than 30 years. Now, a podcast titled “I Was Never There” aims to shed new light on the disappearance, amidst a backdrop of the era’s “Back to the Land” movement.

The show’s first three episodes will be available this Thursday, June 9, wherever podcasts are heard.

Chris Schulz spoke with the podcast’s mother-daughter creators Karen and Jamie Zelermyer about the upcoming show.

Schulz: Jamie and Karen, thank you both so much for sitting down to speak with me today. Explain to our listeners what “I Was Never There” is. Karen, why don’t you start us off?

Karen: Well, it’s the story of Marsha Ferber, who disappeared in 1988. So it is a true crime podcast, but it’s much more than true crime. It’s my story and Jamie’s story. It’s the story of 1970s and 80s in West Virginia, and the movement of people who are looking to create an alternative life through the back to the land movement, and then creating alternative businesses co-ops and Marsha was an entrepreneur. So she established cooperative houses called the Earth House, and she established the Underground Railroad and the Dry House. So it really is a very rich, full story of that time period. And then she disappeared. And what happened.

Schulz: Jamie, what can you add to that?

Jamie: For many years, I have been wanting to tell the story of the time and place which was West Virginia in the 1970s and 80s. We realized that it was hard to just tell our story without telling Marsha’s story, and vice versa, because they were so interconnected. My mom had worked at the bar, my dad is on the police report as her attorney when she disappeared. The podcast, I think, is the story of a disappearance. And it is also the story of a time in a place which was this glorious time in West Virginia in the 1970s.

Schulz: Karen, why tell this story now after more than 30 years?

Karen: You know, Jamie is actually the one who’s best positioned to tell that story. We’ve had a long interest in wanting to tell the story of that time and place in West Virginia. And she knew what a devastating experience it was that she went missing, and had just how hard it was for many of us to find closure.

Schulz: Jamie, why did you want to tell this story now?

Jamie: Obviously, true crime is something that interests people these days. But for me, true crime doesn’t really resonate unless there’s a bigger story behind it. Unless you can really get to know the person and understand the world that they lived in and the circumstances. I feel like the story of the back to the land movement and the way Marsha lived her life and the way my mom lived her life is not so different, you know, in terms of what they were fighting for, those issues are still the same today. So I felt like the story was very contemporary, and that there was a lot for us to look at in terms of what they were doing back in the 70s and 80s. And how that would translate to today.

Schulz: How was the process of making a podcast?

Jamie: I had never done audio before. I come from a film and television background, and I feel like when people tell the story of the 70s to be very cliche in terms of the visuals. So I loved the idea of doing it without visuals. The true crime part was pretty intense. We worked closely with the Morgantown Police Department. That was not something that I had experience with in terms of, you have to be very careful. You don’t want to falsely accuse someone, you want to make sure you’re getting your facts right. So it was, you know, a new process for me, but how lucky to be able to do something new, and to do it as a mother-daughter.

Schulz: Karen, what about for you?

Karen: You know, my initial motivation was what a trip that would be, how fabulous it would be to be able to do a project with my kid. And I didn’t have a clue what that meant. And it became a much more intense, emotional experience than I ever intended. The processing between Jamie and I and my having to think about some of the stuff I did back then. What was I thinking? I mean, really, what was I thinking? I could have lost my kids. You know, I mean, there was just some crazy stuff happening. It was an amazing process.

Schulz: Can you talk about the role of counterculture, and I guess, to a certain extent, drugs in this story?

Karen: One of the ongoing conversations that we had with our producers, and I would be adamant about this: Marijuana is not a drug. It’s also a story of drugs. So for me, the counterculture was about marijuana, and it was about psychedelics. And it was about believing that we could create alternative economies that weren’t based on greed, that were based on cooperation and equity. That is what the counterculture was for me. When I say drugs, I mean, cocaine and heroin, and now opioids, right, in West Virginia. But back then, that wasn’t the case of the counterculture. And I think those drugs are life destroying, and we lost a lot of friends.

Schulz: Jamie, as somebody who was a child at this time, what was your perception of this lifestyle, That you were kind of brought into so young?

Jamie: I loved it. We had a lot of great adults around. And I think, as my mom said, we’ve lost a lot of friends. I think that there’s a lot of light and there’s a lot of dark and something can be both. And we’ve talked about that, about Marsha a lot. That she had a lot of light, she was this really positive force who really loved deeply. And she was a drug dealer, whether

Karen: Selling pot

Jamie: Selling pot, maybe others. I think an important part of the podcast was this, this back and forth, it was important to look at both sides of it. And the drug part was very complicated. Obviously, whether it was an intentional disappearance, or a murder or witness protection, or any number of the theories, most likely drugs were involved.

Schulz: What do you hope people walk away with having listened to the show?

Karen: I hope they walk away with an understanding that all of the problems that we were trying to get away from and reject are just as bad today, if not worse, and I hope they think “Wow, those folks really took some big risks.” I still think we can change those things. So I hope that people look at what we did and hear our story and say, ‘It’s time for me to try that now.’