Trending
NEW CUMBERLAND -- With the opioid epidemic becoming more problematic throughout the country, the Hancock County Commission has taken the step to declare the epidemic a public nuisance.
The commission approved an order for that declaration during Thursday's meeting, which states the epidemic is currently amongst its great public health problems and have cited the alarming rate of overdoses and deaths from those overdoses.
The order cited several pieces of information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which reported opioids are the result of the majority of drug overdose deaths that have occurred in the country. According to the CDC, since 1999, opioid overdoses have quadrupled in the U.S., and that about 91 Americans die from such an overdose daily.
Also listed in the order citing CDC studies, the national average of fatal drug overdoses in 2015 was 16.3 per 100,000 people, but West Virginia's fatality rate was nearly triple the national average at 41.5 per 100,000 people.
The order also cited other news sources which stated West Virginia has the highest rate of fatal drug overdoses in the country and continues to rise, and also in another source, that the state leads the nation in the incidence of babies born exposed to drugs as well as the highest rate of babies born dependent on opioids.
It also noted a 2013 study, which stated 80 percent of those who have used heroin started first with misusing prescription pain medications that contain opioids, then progressed to heroin.
The order goes on to state that the selling, distributing and prescribing of prescription opioid pills is a public health and safety hazard and has created a nuisance to county residence, and furthermore the manufacturers and distributors of the medicines have "wrongfully abused the privilege of selling and/or providing medication to our residents, and must be held accountable".
It adds that the commission will take the proper steps to abate the public nuisance.