West Virginia
While major resources have gone toward drug crisis, analyst says, the results are dim – WV MetroNews
Drug addiction remains a widespread, deadly problem in West Virginia, state lawmakers heard in a presentation filled with alarming, spine-chilling figures.
“I won’t bury the lead. The bottom line is that we have not made enough progress on this crisis. We’re nowhere near where we need to be, and our data related to other states and even our own expectations has fallen far short,” Jeremiah Samples, senior policy adviser for the West Virginia Legislature told members of the Joint Standing Committee on Health.
His Monday afternoon presentation, while dark, was not without hope. Samples advised a reassessment of substance abuse disorder strategies and expenditures through an emphasis on what is happening to real people in communities.
He also expressed optimism about new West Virginia First Foundation, the nonprofit organization with access to millions of dollars in drug settlement money that can be aimed at recovery. And he pointed toward the work of the state Office of Drug Control Policy, established in 2017 and now budgeted for $2.3 million annually.
But Samples, a former deputy director for the state’s health and human resources agency, also took note of the billions of dollars in expenditures already dedicated to reducing drug problems and yet “we’ve led the nation since 2010 and every year since in fatal overdose deaths. In fact, we’ve seen exponential growth in that rate since that time.”
His presentation was filled with eye-popping statistics:
— An estimated 208,000 people in West Virginia used illicit drugs in the last month, according to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
— Overall, the age-adjusted drug overdose death in the United States quadrupled from 2002 to 2022.
— There were 107,941 drug overdose deaths in 2022.
— West Virginia experienced 1,335 known overdose deaths in 2022, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
— From 1999 to 2022, West Virginia’s overdose deaths increased 1,680%.
“We can’t sustain that, as a society,” Samples said. “It’s crippling to the state.”
West Virginia’s overdose death rate is 151% higher than the best state in the country, Samples said. It’s 85.6% higher than the national average. And 36.4% higher than the next worst state.
“It’s hard to be positive when you’re juxtaposing yourself against other states this way and seeing that you’re continuing to fall behind,” he said.
He said the effects are now multi-generational, with hundreds of millions of dollars in indirect costs in child welfare alone.
West Virginia leads the nation in neonatal abstinence syndrome, caused when a baby experiences withdrawal from drug exposure in the womb before birth, he said, and the state leads the nation in in utero substance exposure. Only about 17,000 babies are born each year in West Virginia.
“And of those 17,000 births, we’re looking at about 2,500 babies every year that are exposed to drugs in the womb. So extrapolate that out over a decade or more and you start to see the demographic tsunami that is coming,” Samples said. “It’s a crisis.”
Samples noted that lawmakers have passed a series of policies intended to address many of these issues, and he said they could pass more — including some that he recommended.
“But it really doesn’t matter because the most important thing we need to do, in my opinion, is that we need to measure what matters so that we can then pivot and organically improve our response to this crisis,” Samples said.
“We need to measure every aspect of our substance abuse disorder policies and expenditures, and we need to tie it back to a core societal measure.”
He proposed measuring overdose deaths, in utero substance exposure, infectious disease rate of spread, child fatality or near fatality rate of drugs.
“These are really what people care about.”
He added, “Why am I even here today? It’s not because of some process issue. It’s because people are sick of what’s happening in their communities. They’re sick of their loved ones dying. They’re sick of people they know, struggling year after year. We need to start measuring and setting goals for ourselves and holding ourselves to those goals, then if we miss those marks then we need to explain why.”
The legislative committee also heard from Jonathan Board, executive director of the West Virginia First Foundation, which has more than $225 million on hand to put toward relief efforts for the effects of drug addiction.
“We know that we cannot just check boxes here or there,” Board told lawmakers. “In many respects we are walking through cemeteries every day, and we understand that each and every dollar we have is because of a loved one who has been lost or horribly affected by this public health crisis.”
And the committee heard from the new executive director of the Office of Drug Control Policy, Dr. Stephen Loyd, who was appearing on his first day on the job.
“West Virginia has been ground zero for the opioid crisis. It’s where it started; it’s where it’s continued today,” Loyd said. “And there have been a lot of really great people in this state that have worked hard, and for a lot of whatever reasons we are where we are.
“I think it would be a great thing if West Virginia showed the rest of the country how to get out of this crisis.”
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) – The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program will conduct its annual “Click It or Ticket” high-visibility enforcement campaign during the Memorial Day travel period.
National enforcement runs from May 18 through May 31. West Virginia’s state-specific enforcement begins May 11 and ends May 25.
Travelers will see increased patrols by state and local law enforcement during this time. Officers will ensure every driver and passenger is buckled up correctly.
This year’s campaign focuses on nighttime enforcement. Data shows that a higher number of unrestrained fatalities occur during nighttime hours.
Copyright 2026 WDTV. All rights reserved.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As scammers become more sophisticated, the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles is warning the public about new and continuing scams circulating around the country.
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Scams play on fear and request immediate action.
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Scams rely on something you didn’t know you owed, because you don’t.
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Scams rely on confusion. Some common themes of recent scams are unpaid parking violations or turnpike tolls. DMV does not collect these.
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Recent scams pretending to be DMV have arrived by text, but scams can be delivered on paper or by email. A recent scam claiming to be from Kanawha County Municipal Court even used the state seal.
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As scams become more sophisticated, they can look like real communications, so if you are unsure you can call DMV at (800) 642-9066 to verify if you receive something suspicious claiming to be DMV.
Continued focus on making the public aware of scams is necessary as scams continue to evolve. Please share the word with family, co-workers and friends who may not be on social media or watching the news.
DMV’s website is dmv.wv.gov, and its toll-free phone number is (800) 642-9066. DMV will always take the time to answer guests’ questions.
York PA installation about Articles of Confederation completed
The long-awaited Hard Bargains installation explaining and exploring the Articles of Confederation has been completed near York County History Center.
The Pennsylvania Office of State Inspector General filed charges in York County against a West Virginia man and woman, who allegedly got thousands of dollars in COVID-era rent assistance funds under false pretenses.
Chester Joseph Little, 41, and Dawn Lea Caltrider, 43, of Orma, West Virginia face felony theft and forgery charges filed Monday, May 4, in York County in connection with getting funds through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) through filing fraudulent applications.
According to court documents, on Nov. 8, 2023, the assistant director of the York County Department of Human Services contacted the Office of the State Inspector General about suspicious ERAP applications and suspected that Little and Caltrider received funds under false pretenses.
On Sept. 24, 2021, court records indicate that Caltrider applied for ERAP funds for rental assistance for a residence in the 1500 block of Route 116 in Spring Grove, which Little claimed was his property and was paid $1,500 a month in rent and had not been paid between February 2021 to October 2021. Little asked York County Community Progress Council (CPC) to pay him for the months Caltrider was behind in rent plus rent for October 2021 through January 2022 and $18,400 was deposited in Little’s bank account.
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It was later found that the owner of the property on Route 116 was Caltrider’s sister. Caltrider and Little had lived there for a period before they moved out. Little had allegedly presented a fake lease and mortgage agreement as part of the ERAP application, and Caltrider falsely claimed she lived at the address.
Court documents also indicated that Little signed an application for ERAP benefits Oct. 6, 2021 for a home in the 400 block of Rear Pleasant Street in Hanover and reported Caltrider as his landlord. Caltrider allegedly filled out the landlord portion of the application and said that she was paid $2,000 a month and Little had not paid rent from February 2021 to October 2021. She applied to the York County Community Progress Council (CPC) to pay her what was in arrears plus rent from November 2021 through January 2022 and requested funds, totaling $24,000, be deposited into her bank account.
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A 2023 investigation uncovered that the property in the 400 block of Rear Pleasant Street was a self-storage business and was not owned by Caltrider, who allegedly presented a fake lease and homeowner insurance policy as part of the ERAP application.
More charges were filed against Caltrider after she allegedly provided another false application on Oct. 22, 2021. According to court documents, Caltrider applied for rental assistance for an address in the first block of Abbie Road in Spring Garden Township posing as her daughter and claimed to be the landlord of the address and received $17,200 in ERAP funds. Investigators found that the daughter had never lived at the address after questioning her. Authorities say Caltrider presented a fake lease and homeowner insurance policy and presented an altered Pennsylvania birth certificate in that case.
Caltrider alone faces five counts of felony forgery and one felony count each for identity theft, theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception in this particular case.
As of Wednesday, May 6, neither Little nor Caltrider had seen a judge regarding the charges.
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