What do you know about West Virginia Opioid Overdose?

"West Virginia has the highest age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths involving opioids. In 2017, there were 833 drug overdose deaths involving opioids in West Virginia—a rate of 49.6 deaths per 100,000 persons. The sharpest increase in opioid involved overdose deaths was seen in cases involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (mainly fentanyl): a rise from 122 deaths in 2014 to 618 deaths in 2017 (Figure 1). Deaths involving heroin also increased significantly in the same 3-year period: from 163 to 244 deaths. In 2017, West Virginia providers wrote 81.3 opioid prescriptions for every 100 persons."

https://www.drugabuse.gov/opioid-summaries-by-state/west-virginia-opioid-summary

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As we talked about in class, West Virginia has suffered the most in the opioid crisis in the US. This article by the National Institute on Drug Abuse gives data and graphs of just how extensive this opioid problem is. Compared to any other state in the US, West Virginia's overdose is largely different than the average across the nation. This data makes sense based on what we learned in class of how Purdue pushed opioids in that area as a mean to pain relievers. This article helps show how people in West Virginia are affected by the opioids to this day.