Opioid Epidemic Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State, National Organizations Petition W.Va. Supreme Court To Keep Huntington, Cabell Opioid Case Alive

A group of national and state organizations are asking the state Supreme Court to side with Cabell County and Huntington in their lawsuit against major opioid distribution companies.

The Amici Curiae, or friends of the court, are organizations that have an interest in the outcome of the case.

“The opioid crisis represents one of the greatest threats to public health in our lifetime, with profound consequences for the communities Amici serve,” the Amici said in the brief.

The case pivots on the legal definition of what is considered a public nuisance. After Judge David Faber ruled narrowly on what defines a public nuisance, Cabell and Hunting lost their case against the companies. The Amici told the court in its brief that Faber’s decision was overly restrictive and inconsistent with West Virginia law.

“(The decision) prevents opioid distributors from being held responsible for the costs of abating the crisis they caused,” the Amici said in the brief. “And improvidently diminishes their duty to avert the further spread of the crisis to almost nothing.”

The localities appealed the decision in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which asked the state Supreme Court to define the legal reach and definition of a public nuisance.

The Cabell County Case needs a broad description to stay alive, much like what the state of West Virginia used in a separate suit.

“The court should answer the certified question in the affirmative, holding that West Virginia Common Law defines public nuisance to include the conditions caused by distribution of controlled substances,” the Amici said in the brief.

The organizations represented in the brief are the National Association of Counties, the County Executive of America, the National League of Cities, the International Municipal Lawyers Association, the West Virginia Sheriffs Association, the West Virginia Association of Counties, the County Commissioners Association of West Virginia, and the West Virginia Municipal League.

In the brief they said that a narrow definition would absolve major drug companies of their responsibility for creating an opioid epidemic.

Health Care Providers Expand Substance Use Disorder Resources For Veterans

As fentanyl overdose deaths rise nationally, West Virginia health care providers are looking for new ways to support veterans struggling with substance use disorder or mental health issues.

As fentanyl overdose deaths rise nationally, veterans face new challenges overcoming historic barriers to health care.

Mark Mann, chief of staff for mental health services at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center (VAMC), said that West Virginia’s veteran community has been no exception to this struggle.

“The VA is doing a good job of curbing that, but we still are losing veterans every year to poisoning from fentanyl and other things that are mixed into the drugs,” he said.

Veterans have long faced bureaucratic difficulties and stigma when seeking support for substance use disorder. But the rising prevalence of fentanyl has also tested current mental health resources for veterans, requiring new strategies.

In response, health care providers at the VAMC are working to expand current resources to better serve veterans struggling with substance use disorder and other forms of mental illness.

On Friday, medical professionals and members of the local community gathered at the facility for a summit on substance use disorder among veterans.

The event featured discussions from both national and local medical professionals, who discussed substance use disorder among veterans at large and specific services at the VAMC supporting veterans’ mental health needs.

Those resources include traditional medical resources, like residential inpatient services, intensive outpatient programs and medication-assisted therapies, Mann said.

But it also includes providing a full “continuum of care,” supplementing medical services with social interventions and support.

In 2022, Mann said staff members at the VAMC helped advocate for the creation of a three-digit hotline number for suicide and mental health crisis intervention, 988.

Joseph Liberto, national mental health director for substance use disorders at the Department of Veteran Affairs Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, answers audience questions.

*Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Some veterans who contact the hotline are put in touch with the VAMC, who can then provide follow-up services and ensure they are safe.

Mann said providing a simple and remote resource like this has helped the VAMC provide more immediate support to veterans in need, and keep lines of communication open once patients step off the facility’s Martinsburg campus.

The VAMC has also created on-campus resources that provide counseling, like a chaplain assigned specifically to support veterans with difficulties surrounding mental health or substance use.

Roosevelt Brown, chief chaplain at the VAMC, said that the creation of this position allowed the VAMC to directly help local veterans, and point them to resources specific to their mental health needs.

“Part of what we’re doing now is trying to say, ‘Hey, how can we make sure we open the door and let them know that we have services available for them?’” he said.

As chaplains, Brown said that he and his colleagues offer spiritual or emotional guidance to patients at the VAMC, and also encourage them to access specific resources that could support them through periods of difficulty.

Brown said that fewer people used the VAMC’s chaplain services during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that turnout has returned to pre-pandemic levels with the creation of these new resources.

He added that he hopes this trend will continue, and that the VAMC will be able to further support veterans struggling with substance use disorder.

“We’re motivated to do something about those who need help,” he said. “My hope is that what we can do is [bring] a better quality of life [to] veterans.”

State Supreme Court Will Weigh Cabell County, Huntington Opioid Lawsuit

This year every county in West Virginia, except Cabell County, is set to begin receiving opioid settlement funds, totalling over 400 million dollars from a nearly statewide lawsuit that was won in 2022.

Cabell County, and its largest city, Huntington, decided to bring their own joint lawsuit. They lost that suit in 2022, despite suing with the same claim that was used in successful state and nationwide lawsuits that the pharmaceutical companies had created a “public nuisance.”

This year every county in West Virginia, except Cabell County, is set to begin receiving opioid settlement funds, totaling over 400 million dollars from a nearly statewide lawsuit that was won in 2022.

The judge presiding over the case, U.S. District Judge David Faber, had a narrower interpretation over what constitutes a public nuisance than other judges on previous cases. The city and county appealed the decision.

Now the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering the case, has asked the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to answer a critical question: “Under West Virginia’s common law, can conditions caused by the distribution of a controlled substance constitute a public nuisance and, if so, what are the elements of a public nuisance claim?”

If the Supreme Court determines that those conditions do constitute a public nuisance claim then the case can proceed. Otherwise, the case against the pharmaceutical companies is dead.

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said the nearly 100 million pills that were distributed to his city of less than 45,000 residents led to thousands of overdose deaths — and he hopes the courts see it that way as well.

“We remain hopeful that the court will find that under West Virginia law,” Williams said. “The City of Huntington and Cabell County had the right to file its claim that distributors of opioids can be held accountable for flooding the market with opioids and the resulting devastation of the opioid epidemic.”

Huntington was one of the hardest hit communities by the opioid epidemic. According to city officials, 1 in 10 residents is currently, or has been addicted to opioids. Williams said he is happy that the effort is still alive, so that the community can continue to heal.

“The reason that we need a settlement is to be able to rebuild and build back our community,” Williams said. “In a way that we can create a level of resilience to be able to overcome the curse that was placed on our community as a result of the greed of those companies.”

West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to the three pharmaceutical companies in the lawsuit, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health, but did not hear back in time for broadcast.

Virginia Doctor Who Prescribed More Than 500k Doses Of Opioids Granted New Trial

Authorities said Joel Smithers headed a drug distribution ring that contributed to the opioid abuse crisis in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

A Virginia doctor who was sentenced to 40 years in prison after prescribing more than half a million doses of highly addictive opioids in two years has been granted a new trial by a federal appeals court that found the instructions given to jurors at his trial misstated the law.

Joel Smithers was convicted in 2019 of more than 800 counts of illegally prescribing drugs.

During his trial, prosecutors said patients from five states drove hundreds of miles to see him to get prescriptions for oxycodone, fentanyl and other powerful painkillers. Authorities said Smithers headed a drug distribution ring that contributed to the opioid abuse crisis in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

In a ruling issued Friday, a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Smithers’ convictions and ordered a new trial.

Jurors at Smithers’ trial were instructed that in order to find Smithers guilty of illegally prescribing drugs, they must find that he did so “without a legitimate medical purpose or beyond the bounds of medical practice.”

But the appeals court found that that jury instruction was improper, citing a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said a defendant must “knowingly or intentionally” act in an unauthorized manner to be guilty of that charge. Even though the jury convicted Smithers in 2019, his case was subject to the 2022 Supreme Court decision because his appeal was still pending when that ruling was issued.

Justice Roger Gregory, who wrote the 3-0 opinion for the 4th Circuit panel, cited Smithers’ testimony at his trial, when he said almost all of his patients had had significant car or workplace accidents and that he believed there was a legitimate medical purpose for each of the prescriptions he wrote. Gregory wrote that even though “a jury might very well not have believed Smithers’ testimony that he acted with a legitimate medical purpose,” the defense provided evidence that could have led to a finding of not guilty on each of the unlawful distribution charges against Smithers.

“In sum, because there was evidence upon which a jury could have reached a contrary finding, the instructional errors were not harmless,” Gregory wrote.

During Smithers’ trial, a receptionist testified that patients would wait up to 12 hours to see Smithers, who sometimes kept his office open past midnight. Smithers did not accept insurance and took in close to $700,000 in cash and credit card payments over two years, prosecutors said.

“We understand the 4th circuit decision following a recent change in the law and look forward to retrying the defendant, ” U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh said in a statement Monday.

Beau Brindley, an attorney for Smithers, said that since the 2022 Supreme Court decision, “only one thing decides a doctor’s guilt or innocence: his own subjective beliefs about his prescriptions.”

“Under this new legal standard, with the focus now solely on his intent, Dr. Smithers looks forward to being fully exonerated at trial,” Brindley said in a statement.

Troublesome Creek – Building Instruments As A Form Of Recovery

In the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, jobs are scarce, and an opioid crisis continues to inflict pain throughout the region. But where many see hopelessness, Doug Naselroad, a master luthier from Hindman, Kentucky, sees an opportunity to help those in need.

Naselroad founded a nonprofit instrument manufacturer, The Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company, to train and employ people in recovery, helping them find purpose and belonging as they work their way through recovery.

This short film explores Doug’s mission and the positive impact he and his team have had on a region and its people.

Watch this special Folkways story below:

The Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company strives to make beautiful handcrafted instruments, including dulcimers, guitars and mandolins.

*Credit: Curren Sheldon/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Troublesome Creek employee Anthony works on a guitar.

*Credit: Curren Sheldon/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Founder and master luthier Doug Naselroad checks the sound of a guitar in progress.

*Credit: Curren Sheldon/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

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This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council.

The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts and culture.

Conference Aims To Help Teachers Teach Troubled Students

School mental health professionals from across the state had the opportunity to learn how to address mental health challenges and more in their classrooms.

The state Department of Education hosted a conference in Charleston to raise awareness of trauma, opioid addiction, and mental health challenges in schools, and to provide teachers, school counselors and other professionals with tools and strategies to address these issues.

The Student Support Conference is being held Nov. 29 through Nov. 30 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.

David Lee is the director of student support and wellbeing for the West Virginia Department of Education. He said teachers, and especially new teachers, aren’t always equipped to handle what they see in a classroom.

“So how do I know what to look for, for the emotional problems of a child? How do I address those issues? How do I learn to de-escalate situations in my classroom?” Lee said.

The conference is a chance to support professionals who are working in schools by teaching them ways to identify and address mental health and trauma in their students to better help them succeed in school and life.

“We’re dealing with kids that are coming from very difficult situations at home, and they’re walking in school, and we’re expecting them to just be normal, and that’s not possible with some of the situations that they are facing,” Lee said. “So how do we address that? How do we work with the counselors? How do we work with communities and schools?”

According to Lee, student mental health issues continue to rise because of the ongoing opioid epidemic in the state and recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve got to start teaching behaviors because we got kids that come to school that have no clue about behaviors,” Lee said. “Did COVID have a lot to do with that? It did, yes. But we’ve had these problems before. They’ve been masking a lot of ways, but now they are really showing their true colors right now, because of the isolation that kids went through.”

Lee said he hopes this training makes teachers proactive in their classrooms and teaches them to act instead of react to potential behavioral issues that may arise from problems at home.

“You’re not gonna solve all the problems in high school right now, that’s not going to happen,” Lee said. “But you’ve got to start a building block and I really think in the K through three, teaching those behaviors, modeling those behaviors and what it should be like, is a good foundation.”