{"id":20839,"date":"2026-03-22T18:32:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T17:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20839"},"modified":"2026-03-22T18:32:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T17:32:53","slug":"editors-notes-harm-reduction-effort-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/03\/editors-notes-harm-reduction-effort-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s Notes: Harm reduction effort working"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"website_logo\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsandsentinel.com\/\" rel=\"home\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsandsentinel.com\/wp-content\/themes\/coreV2\/images\/website_logo.png\" alt=\"homepage logo\" width=\"337\" height=\"67\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">by Christina Myer <em>exec editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel &#8211; <\/em>Mar 14, 2026<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"content_wrap\"><main id=\"content\" class=\"article\"><\/p>\n<section id=\"left_column_inside\">\n<div id=\"inside_left_column\">\n<article id=\"single\">\n<aside id=\"article_details\">\n<div class=\"half_article_details\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data included some good news for the Mountain State, as numbers from October 2024 through September 2025 showed a dramatic reduction in opioid overdose deaths. Vital Statistics Rapid Release data shows there were an estimated 2,042 opioid overdose deaths in West Virginia during that period. That\u2019s a 48.55% reduction from the same period the previous year.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<section id=\"article_content\">\n<div id=\"NSPW_Article_300x250\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-google-query-id=\"CMCj4vGCtJMDFdSFUAYdHhUExg\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/1032081\/NSPW_Article_300x250_0__container__\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">For once, West Virginia\u2019s improvement has been faster than the national average, which was a 44% decrease in opioid overdose deaths for the period. Still, given that the state had by far the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in 2023 at 81.9 per 100,000 deaths (yes, that figure includes more than opioids), one year of improvement still keeps us among the worst of the worst.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">According to the Drug Policy Alliance, overdose deaths are decreasing most in places where harm reduction practices are at work.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"NSPW_Article2_300x250\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-google-query-id=\"CIO35fGCtJMDFdSFUAYdHhUExg\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/1032081\/NSPW_Article2_300x250_0__container__\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">\u201cThey\u2019re doing treatment first. They\u2019re lowering barriers to getting help,\u201d Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta told the organization. \u201cThe expansion of naloxone distribution at the community level has exploded and is very likely one of the key drivers of why overdose deaths are declining. Medications for opioid use disorder like methadone and buprenorphine cut overdose risk by half.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Dasgupta is a scientist studying drug overdose deaths at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"NSPW_Article3_300x250\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-google-query-id=\"CIS35fGCtJMDFdSFUAYdHhUExg\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/1032081\/NSPW_Article3_300x250_0__container__\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">\u201cIf we want overdose deaths to continue to decline in the United States, we need to keep doing the things that we know work,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are people alive right now because of these effective, proven strategies for preventing overdoses.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Use-prevention efforts such as honest school-based awareness programs, prescription drug monitoring programs, improved access to affordable mental healthcare, even data collection efforts that help guide the conversation \u2014 it all helps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">For that matter, access to affordable healthcare in general \u2014 particularly in a state that relies so much on physical laborers who face the risk of injury and chronic physical pain daily \u2014 is essential. Even better if alternative means of pain management are encouraged rather than squashed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">But perhaps one of the least considered when there is so much lower-hanging fruit for politicians are the \u201cdeaths of despair,\u201d and the role hopelessness and dismal economic prospects have played in this plague. Deep generational poverty, socio-cultural assumptions about both education\/job training AND substance use, and the perpetual failure to bring any momentum to the expansion and diversification of our economy have been crippling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">As the abstract for one Marshall University study on \u201cThe opioid epidemic: Effects on recidivism in West Virginia,\u201d put it, \u201cthe opioid epidemic was just a by-product of a much larger issue found in West Virginia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Now, tens of millions of dollars have been distributed across the state in the early stages of the West Virginia First Foundation\u2019s mission of \u201cEmpowering West Virginians to prevent substance use disorder, support recovery, and save lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">According to Chairman Greg Duckworth, \u201cThese investments are not just funding grants, they are strengthening an ecosystem. We are supporting foster families, peer recovery networks, workforce pipelines, diversion strategies, wraparound youth services, and the long-term capacity needed to change outcomes for generations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Here\u2019s hoping the goal is that one day the foundation will run out of money after having completed its mission and happily close up shop.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">But until that day, no one can let what looks like success over the course of one year lull them into letting off the gas. We\u2019re not even out of the driveway.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\"><i>Source: https:\/\/www.newsandsentinel.com\/opinion\/local-columns\/2026\/03\/editors-notes-harm-reduction-effort-working\/<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Christina Myer exec editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel &#8211; Mar 14, 2026 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data included some good news for the Mountain State, as numbers from October 2024 through September 2025 showed a dramatic reduction in opioid overdose deaths. Vital Statistics Rapid Release data shows there were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,141,142,40,139,36,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-harm-reduction-research","category-latest-news","category-prevention-research","category-strategy-and-policy","category-treatment-addiction","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20840,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20839\/revisions\/20840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}