Recovery Resource Center

VISION

Promote Recovery/Improve Health, Home, Purpose and Community.

MISSION

To serve as a leader for improving the health and safety of individuals by promoting strategic approaches and collaboration to provide resources for treatment options and support for those suffering from substance use disorder and their loved ones.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Berkeley County, West Virginia, a county of approximately 113,000 located in the Eastern Panhandle, is in the midst of a drug epidemic. Due to a deadly resurgence of heroin addiction, an alarming number of overdoses have occurred in Berkeley County during the past few years. In 2016, there have been 985 Opioid overdoses in Berkeley County with 88 of them being fatal. Along with the rise in heroin use a public health crisis has also developed. The number of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV has seen increases in the region and state.

The Berkeley County area drug epidemic is no longer someone else’s problem. Drug addiction can touch all people no matter their age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, education or location. To address this issue, Berkeley County’s drug prevention efforts should focus on three general principles: prevention, treatment and law enforcement.

Focusing on area youth is at the center of our prevention efforts with outreach programs at community centers and after-school programs. Prevention must also mean preventing individuals who already suffer from addiction from causing irreparable harm to themselves or others.

Harm reduction programs are a cost-effective way to prevent the spread of disease and give addicts a portal toward treatment and recovery.

Treatment resources across the state are severely limited and expanding the number of treatment beds is vital for our future. We must also remember that recovery does not end after an addict’s stay at a treatment center. Transitional housing and career opportunities are needed to let them become productive members of society.

Strengthening laws on drug dealers while giving discretion to judges on addicts needs to be a focus of the West Virginia Legislature. Local law enforcement expanding diversion programs and the judicial system expanding the role of drug courts are necessary steps to ease prison overcrowding. There must also be a path for individuals who have acquired a criminal record, due to their addiction, to start anew.