Rahul Gupta Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Randolph County Joins Regional Effort To Curb Drug Trafficking, Overdose

Randolph is the 24th West Virginia county to be designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Randolph County has been added to a regional effort to fight drug trafficking.

Randolph is the 24th West Virginia county to be designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

The designation brings the county into a partnership of federal, state and local officials to curb drug trafficking, drug overdoses and drug use.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, federal drug czar Dr. Rahul Gupta and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia William Ihlenfeld announced the designation in Elkins on Wednesday.

Ihlenfeld is chairman of the board of the Baltimore-Washington High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and was previously chairman of the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Gupta was West Virginia’s Chief Health Officer before joining the White House as the first doctor to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The Oldest Town In The State And Our Song Of The Week, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, Shepherdstown and Romney both lay claim to being the oldest town in West Virginia – but there’s some confusion as to which town is actually correct. Shepherd Snyder spoke to Appalachian historian and Shepherd University professor Benjamin Bankhurst about why the answer is more complicated than it appears.

On this West Virginia Morning, Shepherdstown and Romney both lay claim to being the oldest town in West Virginia – but there’s some confusion as to which town is actually correct. Shepherd Snyder spoke to Appalachian historian and Shepherd University professor Benjamin Bankhurst about why the answer is more complicated than it appears.

Also, in this show, officials are encouraging vigilance as smoke from intense Canadian wildfires makes its way south on changing wind patterns. Emily Rice has more.

The nation’s drug czar visited West Virginia University Thursday as the start of a multi-day tour of the state. As Chris Schulz reports, the purpose of the trip is to discuss local and national efforts to address the overdose epidemic.

And, this week’s encore episode of Mountain Stage features one of Americana music’s most heralded and admired writers, James McMurtry. Our Song of the Week is McMurtry’s song “Vaquero,” where his writing manages to capture the unique human experience in particularly vivid ways.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.

Our Appalachia Health News project is made possible with support from CAMC and Marshall Health.

West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Eric Douglas, Bill Lynch, Caroline MacGregor, Liz McCormick, Emily Rice. Chris Schultz, Curtis Tate, and Randy Yohe.

Eric Douglas is our news director. Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and producer.

Teresa Wills is our host.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Gupta: Biden To Focus On Opioids For State Of The Union Speech

Controlling fentanyl and reducing overdose deaths are expected to be a big part of President Biden’s State of the Union address according to Dr. Rahul Gupta, the former state health officer for West Virginia and now the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

During a press call before the speech, he discussed the overdose death rate.

“More than 100,000 Americans die from drug overdose or poisonings,” Gupta said. “That’s an American dying every five minutes of every hour of every day.”

Gupta said, in the last year, officials have seized nearly 15,000 pounds of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, at the border.

“Domestically, we’ve seized 26,000 pounds of fentanyl, and denied nearly $9 billion of profits for drug traffickers,” he said. “And because of these efforts, combined with our historic public health advances, we’ve now seen five straight months – five straight months – where all those numbers have decreased. That’s almost 3,000 people who have not died, and instead are at the dinner table each night.”

Gupta said Biden will lay out a plan to continue to fight the problem.

“We’re going to build on the historic progress we’re making by using advanced technology to stop more fentanyl at the border and working with commercial package delivery companies to catch more packages containing fentanyl,” he said. “And we’re gonna work with Congress to permanently control fentanyl related substances so we can make sure that traffickers are held accountable.”

Gupta said Biden will launch a national campaign with Ad Council to educate young people on saving lives from the dangers of fentanyl and ensure that everyone who needs treatment for substance use disorder – including people who are incarcerated at higher risk for overdose death when they’re released – gets it. He said they also plan to expand access to life saving medications for opioid use disorder.

Separately, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., joined a bipartisan, bicameral group urging Biden to restore the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to a cabinet-level position. It was downgraded during the Obama administration.

Elevating the post would enable ONDCP to more effectively coordinate drug control efforts across federal agencies and enhance the Biden administration’s response to the opioid epidemic.

As a senator, Biden supported the ONDCP Director’s serving at the cabinet level.

Health Official: Regional Overdose Death Rates Up, But Flattening

Health officials in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia say the number of overdose deaths continued to rise in 2017. The Ohio Valley ReSource’s Aaron Payne reports that one public health official says, however, there is cause for optimism.

Preliminary data from around the Ohio Valley show overdose fatalities continued to climb last year. A new report from the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy says around 1,500 died from drug overdoses last year, up 11.5 percent from 2016.

Preliminary data from Ohio indicate fatal overdoses jumped almost 20 percent last year. And the Bureau of Public Health in West Virginia reports an estimated 32 percent increase in 2017.

Fentanyl, the synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin, is believed to be the driving cause of the increase.

West Virginia’s Chief Health Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta says the total number of fatal overdoses so far in 2018 indicate a higher toll than last year.

But the news is not entirely bleak. Gupta says the projected rate of increase appears to be leveling off.

“They went from 2016-17 up about 32 percent,” Gupta said. “And from 2017-2018 about 6 percent. So we’re certainly seeing a flattening of the curve. Up, but they’re not as up they were from 2016 to 2017.”

He anticipates fewer overdoses in future months due to the evidence-based approaches to the opioid epidemic across the region.

The Ohio Valley ReSource is made possible with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Number of Smoking Adults Declines in W.Va.

The number of adults who smoke cigarettes in West Virginia has significantly declined since 2011.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human resources released new data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey by DHHR’s Health Statistics Center that shows a decrease in smoking adults of almost 4 percent from 2011 to 2016.

Head Officer and Commissioner of DHHR’s Bureau for Public Health Dr. Rahul Gupta said in a news release this decline is due to the growing number of young adults who never started smoking in the first place.

Gupta says this is a milestone showing the state’s public health efforts in combatting the number of teen smokers.

DHHR says other factors impacting the reduction in adult smokers are indoor clean air regulations, cigarette tax increases, and no-cost tobacco quitline services.

Smoking is known to cause cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other issues. Smoking-related illness is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

It accounts for more than 480,000 deaths nationally and nearly 4,300 deaths in West Virginia.

West Virginia Health Officials Urge Flu Vaccinations

West Virginia health officials are encouraging providers to ensure their patients over six months old get flu vaccinations.

The Bureau for Public Health plans to kick off National Influenza Vaccination Week on Friday in Charleston with Commissioner Dr. Rahul Gupta and others discussing the importance of getting flu shots and the need for the most vulnerable people to get them.

While seasonal flu outbreaks can occur as early as October, they are usually most prevalent between December and February and can continue as late as May.