DUNBAR, W.Va. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito will host the West Virginia Opioid Summit in Dunbar as an effort to combat the Mountain State’s drug crisis.
The summit, which will be held at the West Virginia State Police Professional Development Center in Dunbar Friday morning, will consist of three panels focusing on recovery, research & prevention, and law enforcement.
Shelley Moore Capito
Capito says the goal is to see where the state stands in opioid issues with an eye for a better future.
“The purpose of this that I wanted to see is, what areas have we really achieved success and where do we have to have more success?” Capito said. “This is going to be kind of a recap of how far we’ve come in some sense, but also how much further we have to go.”
Capito says there will be intentional conversations had at the summit.
“We’ll talk about recovery. We’ll talk about the law enforcement aspects of this. We’ll also talk about some of the bills that we’ve put into effect in terms of how it’s affecting families. Is there a preventive measure and how are they doing,” Capito said.
Data released in October from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention shows that there has been a 14.9 percent decrease in fatal overdoses in West Virginia from the start of 2024 to the end of May 2024 compared to the start of 2023 through May 2023.
Capito says some recent numbers are encouraging, but more work needs to be done.
“Some of the numbers of fentanyl overdoses have gone down, but they’re still way too high for a population such as ours,” Capito said.
The summit will begin at 10:30 Friday morning with gates opening at 9:30. The event will be in Conference Room 4 of the West Virginia State Police Professional Development Center.