Opioids

The new group, called Mountaineer Fentanyl Education Task Force, hopes to educate their peers about fentanyl.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, slightly more than half of West Virginians with HIV are receiving treatment. The national goal is 80 percent.

The drugmaker Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has settled for $99 million with the state of West Virginia for its alleged role in the opioid crisis.

Testimony in an ongoing opioid trial in Charleston suggests supply had more to do with the opioid crisis in West Virginia than any other factor.

“There's a clear correlation with regard to the pandemic and the isolation and the inability to access support services for folks who have [substance use disorder],” said West Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Crouch.

On this West Virginia Morning, we hear about a father and son podcast based in Saint Albans, West Virginia that has 5 million listeners. We learn about their story. Also, in this show, The Allegheny Front explores the connection between climate change and its impact on businesses.

West Virginia's attorney general and a coalition of cities and counties are calling for the creation of a nonprofit foundation to distribute money obtained through settlements or judgments in opioid-related litigation against pharmaceutical companies.

The program will place full-time Game Changers counselors in three Harrison County schools for the entire year starting in the fall of 2022. Those schools are Lincoln High School, Lincoln Middle School and Big Elm Elementary School.

Under a new state law, needle exchange programs must now get local buy-in from county and city leaders. Without it, these programs can’t legally operate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released preliminary data Wednesday that estimates 100,000 people died in just a 12-month span -- from March 2020 to March 2021. During those months, 1,600 West Virginians passed away.