Substance Abuse Treatment Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Lawmakers Weigh Opioid Treatment Options

Legislators heard from board members of the private donation-funded opioid treatment center Lauren’s Wish during the first interim session this week.

Between March 2021 and March 2022, West Virginia reported 1,403 fentanyl overdoses. In 2021 alone, there were 1,253 opioid overdose deaths in West Virginia, 83 percent of which were fentanyl-related.

Ed Boyle, director of Facilities at Lauren’s Wish, said his organization’s board members, all of whom have been affected by the state’s opioid crisis, found a gap in the opioid overdose recovery process.

“Through this pain and recovery process, these six directors met over a year-long process of studying where as a society we seem to be failing the youth of this state and our communities,” Boyle said. “We came up with the idea of Lauren’s Wish Addiction Triage Center.”

When an individual overdoses and is taken to the emergency room, they are given Narcan and stabilized. Some hospitals have peer recovery coaches to set the person up with a bed in a treatment center, but that bed might not be available for a week or more. That leaves the hospital to discharge the patient back into the environment in which they overdosed.

Boyle said the board of directors at Lauren’s Wish termed the pattern, “treat and street.” To avoid this cycle, Lauren’s Wish Addiction Triage Center was opened as a 28-bed facility at Hazel’s House of Hope in Morgantown.

Dr. Kevin Blankenship is the Medical Services Director of Lauren’s Wish and founder of Jacob’s Ladder, another private patient-centered recovery program located in Aurora, West Virginia.

“We’ve got lots of beds available in West Virginia but most of those are 30-day programs, at best,” Blankenship said. “What I saw was missing was long-term treatment and that’s what Jacob’s Ladder is. Jacob’s Ladder is a six-month treatment program, that then transitions into another three to six months of sober living. The reason for that is because addiction takes time to heal from. Your brain can heal from this, but you’ve got to give it the right environment.”

Blankenship noted the same gap in treatment between an overdose treatment in an emergency room and treatment and recovery bed availability. He also said 28 days is not enough time to heal from opioid addiction.

“If you’re a doctor or a lawyer or an airline pilot, you’ll be entered into a program for two to five years for your addiction, right? For everybody else 30 days, you should be good,” Blankenship said. “They’re not good and we’re not planning for them after they’re done with their 28-day program. So the program itself is too short. There’s nowhere for them to go afterward.”

Programs like Lauren’s Wish and Jacob’s Ladder need to be duplicated throughout the state, Blankenship recommended to lawmakers.

“This is a necessary program,” Blankenship said. “You probably need four or five of these around our state, regionally located so that different ERs and hospital systems can take advantage of that. It’ll take a load off of our EMS system, it’ll take a load off of our ERs, the folks in there can take care of the heart attacks and the brain bleeds that are coming into the door, instead of devoting all their time to this.”

According to Boyle, Lauren’s Wish has had 152 clients go through their system and be placed in an aftercare or recovery process like a sobering center or medium or short-term rehabilitation stays.

Blankenship said the Jacob’s Ladder program has been in existence for seven years and has a success rate of 75 percent. He credits the program’s success to the time they give their patients to heal, noting the first two weeks of a 28-day stay would be spent in withdrawal.

“There’s something to be said about time when you’re talking about healing the brain and that’s what addiction is, it’s a brain disorder that can be healed with time and the appropriate treatment,” Blankenship said.

Del. Heather Tully, R-Nicholas, asked Blankenship how Jacob’s Ladder is able to keep track of their patients years into their recovery in order to study the outcomes of this type of treatment.

Blankenship credited the strength of the alumni community of Jacob’s Ladder for a portion of their long-term success but also noted the organization has weekly and monthly contact with each person and is able to tell if they’ve relapsed or struggling.

“That doesn’t mean that none of them relapse,” Blankenship said. “The difference in a relapse from a graduate from Jacob’s Ladder, for instance, versus someone who had spent 28 days, is you find out about it immediately, as soon as they use they’ve picked up the phone, someone’s noticed something, they didn’t make a meeting, they didn’t make a commitment that they had. We know pretty early on. And it’s so much easier to deal with that type of a bump in the road, rather than a full-blown relapse, where you’re out six months, using again.”

Blankenship said the cycle of the 28-day treatment model is inefficient and costly.

“The unfortunate part about the 28-day [treatment], and I hate to even suggest this, but they’re incentivized to have folks relapsed and come back because they can just keep billing, you know, you can’t go for longer than 28 days,” Blankenship said. “But if you relapse next week, come back, I got four more weeks I can bill for. So they don’t really have the incentive to make sure that these folks are out there doing healthy things for the next 10 years, which is what our goal is.”

Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor, referenced a presentation from an earlier meeting of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources in which Cindy Beane, commissioner of the Bureau for Medical Services, testified to the implementation of Senate Bill 419 from the 2022 West Virginia Legislative session.

“It’s very difficult for a residential provider to basically track that person who is now not even in the county that they treated the person in a whole other county that might be across the state,” Beane said. “So it’s very difficult for the expectation of the bill for somebody to basically track somebody three years down the road.”

Senate Bill 419 directed the state Department of Health and Human Resources, through the Bureau for Medical Services, to establish a pilot project to evaluate the impact of certain post-substance use disorder residential treatments in West Virginia.

“We had a presentation yesterday through a committee where recovery treatment centers, as you say, are possibly incentivized to have people come back because that’s how they make money,” Summers said. “They think that it’s too difficult to be able to follow people because they say when they leave, they leave and they don’t have the technology to do it. It sounds like you make a phone call.”

Blankenship said the graduates of Jacob’s Ladder are like a family and schedule face-to-face time with one another to check in for coffee or lunch. Also, to enter into the program, the person has to be serious about their recovery. He also noted that 80 percent of people who go through a 28-day program will relapse within three months.

New Foundation Will Distribute Opioid Trial Settlement Funds

The newly formed West Virginia First Foundation will distribute settlement funds from lawsuits against opioid makers and distributors.

It will handle 72.5 percent of the state’s settlement funds, while 24.5 percent would go to local governments. The remaining 3 percent will be held by the state in escrow.

Senate Bill 674 legally recognizes the creation of the foundation, which was announced last month by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill Wednesday.

“We can expand treatment, we can provide evidence-based substance use prevention through this foundation,” Morrisey said during a live stream of the bill’s signing. “We’ll actually help ensure that the laws in our state are better enforced.”

The foundation board will include eleven board members. The governor will appoint five, and six will be selected by local governments across designated regions. Each board member would serve a three year term.

All 55 counties and 221 of West Virginia’s 229 cities have signed the foundation’s Memorandum of Understanding, which also establishes the six regions to be represented in the foundation’s board. An executive director will also be named to run the foundation’s daily operations.

In January, Morrisey announced the state had settled for $83 million with the pharmacy store chain Walgreens. Walmart and CVS Pharmacy settled with West Virginia in September for a combined total of $147 million, and a similar settlement for $400 million was reached in August with the nation’s “big three” opioid distributors: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.

“We know that the opioid epidemic has been one of the great challenges of our time, we know that there’s been a lot of senseless death,” Morrisey said. “The bill being signed today marks a tremendous point in time in our effort to fight back against this terrible crisis.”

West Virginia is also set to take grocery store chain Kroger to trial in June.

Veteran Law Enforcement Officers Now Included In Alzheimer’s Awareness Training Bill

On Alzheimer’s Awareness Day at the West Virginia Legislature, the organization’s program director Terresa Morris said that more than half of those with the brain disorder affecting memory and behavior will – at one time or another – wander.

About 40,000 West Virginians live with some degree of Alzheimer’s dementia, according to the West Virginia chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. There has been concern that recent legislation focused on law enforcement interacting with those suffering with Alzheimer’s did not go far enough.

Senate Bill 570 was signed into law in 2022. The measure required all new law enforcement and correction officers to undergo specialized training in how to identify and communicate with those living with dementia. Morris said that training proved as an eye opener for new recruits.

“When we talk about stories of people in the past that have had situations like this, I think it’s something that our new officers don’t always think about,” Morris said. “They just know that’s not what they’re taught, per se, so currently, we’re doing that through training at the State Academy for all the new officers.”

That law made Alzheimer’s awareness training voluntary for law enforcement and correction officers already on the force. However, few veterans stepped up to take the training.

Currently proposed Senate Bill 208 mandates that all law enforcement officers, new and old, take Alzheimer’s awareness training.

Morris said with stories of first responder confusion over intoxication vs. dementia still coming to light, across the board training becomes a community help as well.

“This is something fairly new,” Morris said. “We’re just at the point where we have increased awareness of dementia and Alzheimer’s and someone that maybe has been in the force five, 10, 20 years – they need this training, they need to know what they could potentially be dealt with or what they could be working with.”

The training also includes understanding the risks associated with Alzheimer’s, including elder abuse and exploitation.

With Alzheimer’s activists in attendance, the Senate suspended rules Thursday and passed Senate Bill 526, which would incorporate early detection, diagnosis and education efforts regarding dementia on its public health platforms. That bill now goes to the House of Delegates for consideration.

House Passes Transportation Requirement For SUD Facilities

Residential substance use disorder service facilities will be required to offer discharged patients a way home if Senate Bill 243 passes the Senate.

Residential substance use disorder (SUD) service facilities will be required to offer discharged patients a way home if Senate Bill 243 is approved into law.

SB 243 would require transportation back to a person’s place of birth, or other location where the individual has ties.

Opponents of the bill argue that it is unnecessary and a non-issue.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, spoke against the bill on the House floor Wednesday. He said because the bill was considered by a Select Committee that met early in the morning, most lawmakers on the floor were unfamiliar with the legislation.

“Not many of you have seen this bill, I would imagine, because it passed through one select committee and then came directly to the floor. It’s not really clear, really what type of facility this would apply to,” Pushkin said. “But I would say with my familiarity with it, that it would only apply to treatment beds, it doesn’t apply to recovery beds, it only applies to facilities that actually can bill Medicaid.”

While speaking in opposition to SB 243, Pushkin told lawmakers that West Virginia already contracts with a company called Modivcare that provides transportation for Medicaid members.

“And the good news is, well, they’re already doing what we’re asking them to do in this bill,” Pushkin said. “We’re already doing it. What the bill now does, though, says you get 30 miles into a neighboring state, you got to kick them out of the vehicle.”

Pushkin said he thinks the bill is based on a false premise that West Virginia’s substance use issues are coming from outside of the state.

“And, unfortunately, that’s not the case. But see, when you blame other things outside of your control for your problems, I guess that absolves you from the responsibility of actually having to do something about it. So this bill is unnecessary,” Pushkin said.

No lawmakers argued in favor of SB 243 on the House floor Wednesday.

The bill passed the House of Delegates with a vote of 82 ayes, 13 nays and five absent or not voting.

SB 243 now returns to the Senate for further consideration.

Nicholas County Program Celebrates Parents' Sobriety, Reunification With Their Kids

Family Treatment Court is an innovative program that reunifies families amid the state’s foster care crisis and the drug epidemic.

The courtroom in Nicholas County was packed Thursday as 10 parents graduated from the county’s Family Treatment Court program.

Large, framed portraits of the graduates and their respective families lined the front of the courthouse — the parents’ and kids’ smiles on display to show the room that their families were now whole.

Family Treatment Court is an innovative program that reunifies families amid the state’s foster care crisis and drug epidemic, two problems that are interwoven in West Virginia.

Under the program, parents who have completed substance use disorder treatment, and other requirements, are reunited with their children after being involved in the child welfare system.

“It’s kind of the people who have that drug problem and come into these cases and make that admission, ‘Hey this is something that is not right, and I need to improve on it,’” said Stephanie Smith, family treatment court case coordinator. She said meth has been the most common drug in the county.

“They also have to be willing — that’s kind of the biggest part,” she added.

Nicholas County is the fifth county in the state selected by the state Supreme Court of Appeals to run a grant-funded Family Treatment Court Program.

Nearly 30 people are involved in running the program, including child protective services workers and employees from the local school system.

One of the program’s goals is to minimize the time kids spend in foster care as West Virginia has the highest rate in the country of kids coming into foster care.

Twenty children were reunified with their parents following Thursday’s graduation, and many of the kids were in the courtroom for the ceremony.

Summersville resident Ally Carpenter, 27, has been drug and alcohol free for 275 days with the program. After finding housing and a job, and completing the program’s other requirements, she was reunited with her 11-month-old son and graduated from Family Treatment Court.

“Everyone here was willing to work with you one on one and whatever it took to get your child back quicker,” Carpenter said. “It’s really done a lot of good and put a lot of children back in the homes of parents who wanted them.”

Judge Stephen Callaghan fought to bring the program to his county and, since its launch in 2020, it now has 39 graduates and has reunited 63 children with their parents.

“We do it because of what you just saw in the courtroom. I’m proud to say that we’re one county and one judge, and at times this fall, we’ve had the largest family treatment court in the state,” Callaghan said.

Former graduates attended the ceremony, cheering as men and women received their certificates. Callaghan explained that it’s a community-wide effort to run the program, including finding housing, furniture, treatment and jobs for participants. Smith noted that finding housing is often the biggest barrier in the rural county.

A local business owner who has employed several of the program participants attended the graduation, and Callaghan said the tight-knit community is more than willing to give.

“It’s so easy to get people involved because all you have to do is say, ‘Do you want to help people and families affected by drugs?’ Who would say no to that?” he said.

Carpenter had a big smile as she held her son in the courtroom during her graduation. She said the program has provided her with good friends and an ongoing support system as she begins community college next month.

“I’m going to be a vet tech and then eventually hopefully become a vet,” she said.

Bill to Create Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities Passes in House

The West Virginia House of Delegates has passed a bill that will encourage the creation of substance abuse treatment facilities in the state.

While lawmakers have considered several bills this session aimed at punishing drug traffickers and dealers, House Bill 2428 is about recovery. The bill would establish a special fund to collect donations from the public and any appropriations the Legislature can offer in the future to open more substance abuse treatment facilities.

Democratic Delegate Phil Isner from Randolph County spoke in favor of the bill. He says he’s glad the body got to vote on a bill like this, this session.

“We’ve spent a lot of time this session passing bills that will punish the dealers; the people that are bringing the drugs into our state, and I’ve sponsored, cosponsored, and voted for several of those bills, but I am so encouraged that we are now trying to attack this problem from the other side,” Isner said, “and that is to deal with the users that have got caught up in this, and every one of us probably has a friend or a family member that’s been there.”

The new fund would be called the Ryan Brown Addiction Prevention and Recovery Fund, named after a young man from Kanawha County who died of heroin addiction.

House Bill 2428 passed 99 to 0 and now heads to the Senate.