Prescription opioids are often prescribed because they are effective for relieving moderate to severe levels of pain. When taken as directed, the medication can manage pain for a short amount of time. When long-term use is needed, patients need to be screened and monitored to ensure a physical dependency doesn’t develop – as that can lead to opioid addiction.

When patients who have developed a physical dependency stop talking prescription opioids, they can go through withdrawal, which includes symptoms like restlessness, insomnia, muscles and bone pain, cold flashes, vomiting, and diarrhea. When taken improperly, like in large doses or with alcohol, an overdose can occur and result in death.

West Virginia has faced the brunt of the opioid epidemic with 261 tri-county overdoses in 2016, and the highest overdose rate in the nation. You may wonder why this particular state was struggling the most with opioid addiction and overdose problems. Recently, a congressional committee found that drug companies have shipped 20.8 million prescription painkillers to two pharmacies to a town in West Virginia with 2,900 people over the past ten years. The pharmacies are a mere four blocks apart.

Williamson in Mingo County received the mass amounts of hydrocodone and oxycodone, far exceeding the amount of people living there and the shipments were never flagged or scrutinized by the drug companies. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is looking at this shipment and past ones to see how many pills were coming in to West Virginia over the past decade. They’re also looking for any correlation to how drug companies may have played a role in the current opioid epidemic.

Recently, nine West Virginia drug treatment programs were set to get $20.8 million that will go to additional treatment beds. State lawmakers set aside this money from lawsuit settlements that stated drug companies influenced the opioid epidemic.

Places receiving funding include Living Free Ohio Valley, Mountaineer Behavioral Health, St. Joseph Recovery Center, Westbrook Health Services, Valley HealthCare System, West Virginia University Research Corp., Marshall University Physicians and Surgeons, WestCare West Virginia, and Southern West Virginia Treatment Through Recovery Continuum.