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want to welcome everyone here especially our panelists
and those in the audience for
uh... being here this morning one especially thank dr kopp
marshall university president for hosting us here
at dr terry finger who gave us uh... toward this morning and forensic their
for their forensic lab in
uh... for uh... his expertise and hospitality
on the protest spence
and uh... her ten days
you appreciate your individual and collective work
thank you for being here this morning what uh... i'm sure will be a productive
session
we have a very very distinguished uh...
uh... group of panelists here
and uh...
the problem that we're here to discuss is a very significant scourge on our
society
both in the state of west virginia and across our nation
we have the opportunity to tour the forensic science center and to discuss
with some of the folks who are working here
uh... what some of the challenges are and they are vast
uh... we're talking your no doubt here today how important it is to continue to
gather more information
uh... but one of the great challenges hana distillate information into
intelligence on a more proactive basis whether rather than reactive basis
this presents a challenge not only for marcia university working long force
with the law enforcement cross our nation
uh... we're not talking about problem has state boundaries
it's not indigenous to west virginia
uh... and just as soon as just you stop trafficking from one direction that
starts from another direction so this is truly a national problem
we need national solutions and we need cohesive cooperation across uh...
multiple ah...
jurisdictions and districts
i approached this problem
of addiction
on not just through law enforcement but through treatment
mental health
and yet
having said all that
there there's no there's no combination of magic bullets in the if we all to
cooperate perfectly we will make progress
but this problem process
people
to jail with and get
detox
but they don't get
you know they'll they'll kick that they'll kick the habit is still going up
them
and and uh... so they but we spoke we think they've been cured
and we treat them like that and then they're back in
on the other hand through the
judge thompson's
drug courts
uh... you see some other results sometimes you
kids go into that they they uh... they do work in this sort of the by-play
between the sentence
uh... in in prison and then also work that which is done while they're in
prison
which means that they get a little bit of reduce situation on the lawn first
inside with the increase of tualatin on the treatment site
recidivism generally goes down
and so that the uh... the drug court your tour effect of that there's
somebody terrific programs
the are so many terrific programs all of the aim to doing the right thing
and i'd what i sort of feel philosophically that ought to stop
talking
is um...
is that
it's an overwhelming problem
there is no immediate solution
there is no silver bullet
and that makes no difference to us we just go ahead
four years ago the prescription drug issue
wasn't really on the radar screen and uh... as a police chief when i was told
that more people die from drugs particularly driven by prescription drug
overdoses than die from gunshot wounds frankly i was surprised hai i a would
not have recognized that and i tested many of my colleagues around the country
and frankly they didn't know that he there
now of course we have more people unfortunately and sadly dying from drugs
than we do then behind the wheel from car crashes
uh... but it is something we can make real progress on and i think the example
of the progress and i see business opportunity again to come to west
virginia and see collaborations in partnerships in the leveraging of
resources in a way that that i think is unique uh... i think other states could
take something away from this type of uh... uh... collaboration as they deal
with this too many times we see people say stuff alter the health care
community and they should do something about it but should be more prosecutions
that's the problem with pill mills that several or actually it's everybody's
problem as the senator said it's about educating young people to stay away from
drugs uh... when the health care community it's about educating
professionals about what tools they need to be uh... for proper prescribing and
it's about law enforcement also when it comes to whether it's drug courts that
was such huge supporters of
uh... or other there is no bigger crime problem in my district and prescription
drugs there
quite simply it's
no bigger problem
uh... and the crime problems uh... and the crimes that if you will see
uh... are are devastating to our communities
uh... I know that comes as no surprise to the folks in this room
i mean i i know
uh... but what is shocking is the alarming trends that we're seeing as a
result
uh... terrifying home invasion robberies uh... skyrocketing
uh...
going into trying to get drugs or
uh... they get money to buy drugs we're also saying you know a nontraditional
drug user
alright you know
used to be
to to you get hooked on drugs you had it cross that bright line of
illegality
uh... to use a *** or even a marijuana
but with prescription drugs
you you don't have to cross that bright line oftentimes it's real good people
do had uh... a
devastating injury
uh... they get caught in this downward spiral of abuse
so it's it's people
who would never thought about using *** or marijuana uh... getting
hooked on pills and then
resorting unfortunately often to lower-cost harp potiency
uh... alternatives
and that being here
uh...
which brings me to the fact
that we've seen a more than four fold increase
in *** seizures
two thousand eleven to two thousand and twelve
uh... by our drug task forces
here in southern west virginia
four fold increase in *** seizures
uh...
now what's alarming about that is
the extreme overdose potential that that creates
uh... when you take or even if you snort eight-thirty milligram oxy colon tablet
you're getting
thirty milligrams of potency
with *** first of all these these non-traditional drug users are used to
it and even if they get used to it
one potent batch away from over overdose d_e_a_ appreciates our robust working
relationships and productive inter-agency cooperation with our west
virginia law enforcement
and regulatory body partners
the u_s_ attorney's office is the board of pharmacy in madison the state police
the very struck task forces appalachia H I D A
as well as the many other county municipal police departments all working
with a common goal of addressing the prescription drug issue
the only way to effectively address the issue has been has been mentioned and
that is there a multi prong
including education enforcement monitoring and proper disposal i thank
you