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This week, Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel takes on issues of class and classical music. Also, kudzu warriors band together to fend off invasive plants and take back the land. And, it’s pawpaw season, but a new bug could be harming the trees.
A Decade After Millions Of Opioid Pills Hit Kermit, W.Va., Can The Town Rebound?
Debbie Preece of Kermit, W.Va., lost two brothers to the opioid epidemic.
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At the peak of the opioid crisis, drug companies sent 12 million hydrocodone pills to Kermit, W.Va., a town of about 350 people. Cars would line up at the one pharmacy with people waiting to pick up pain pills. The so-called pain clinics of a decade ago are gone. In their place, a continued need for addiction treatment and recovery resources. Lawsuits against big pharmaceutical companies continue to bring in settlements, but so far Kermit hasn’t seen any money from the litigation. We head to Mingo County to see how the community is healing and what the future might look like.
Credit Trey Kay / WVPB
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Kermit residents Michael Duty, Sister Therese Carew and Etta Lea Blankenship-Kiser share their stories about the long road to recovery for individuals and the small West Virginia town they love.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the West Virginia Humanities Council. Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in on the fourth Thursday of every month at 8 p.m., with an encore presentation on the fourth Saturday at 3 p.m.
On this West Virginia Week, a mine operation in Kanawha County gets a WARN Notice, three Wyoming County Schools will remain closed until next week, and we learn the origins of the Flatwoods Monster.
This week, Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel takes on issues of class and classical music. Also, kudzu warriors band together to fend off invasive plants and take back the land. And, it’s pawpaw season, but a new bug could be harming the trees.