Committee to advise on opioid abuse prevention

Greg Larry, Cumberland Times-News, Md.
·2 min read

Oct. 27—KEYSER, W.Va. — Mineral County officials are creating a five person panel to develop and present ideas for investing funding stemming from West Virginia's opioid litigation settlement.

Approval of the new committee was made Thursday at the regular meeting of the Mineral County Commission.

It was announced in the spring that West Virginia would be awarded $1.2 billion, before legal expenses, in a settlement agreement with big pharma. The award will be disbursed to counties across the state that agreed to participate in the lawsuit, including Mineral.

The state subsequently agreed to form the West Virginia First Foundation to oversee the disbursements of the funding to the participating counties. According to state guidelines, the funding is to be spent on drug awareness education and prevention.

Commissioner Charles "Dutch" Staggs had estimated that Mineral County could receive up to $1 million but added that the actual figure was impossible to calculate until the funds are received and expenses paid.

Staggs said that the committee would consist of five members.

"We'd like to set up this committee with the name of Mineral County First," Staggs said. "The scope of the committee is to make recommendations to the Mineral County commissioners on where to spend the opioid settlement money based upon the validity of the requests, suggestions and ideas given to them.

"Mineral County First will be asked to share the recommendations that will best offer young Mineral County residents further education concerning drug use and suggest recreational activities to help end the opioid epidemic," he said.

Staggs said individuals under consideration for the committee include Melissa Clark, associate director of AHEC (Allegany Health Education Center) West; Jason Whitlock, director of Youth With a Mission; Eileen Sindledecker, Mineral County emergency management coordinator; Katie Gattens, real estate agent; and Karen Donato, coordinator for the Travis Phillip Moreland Foundation.

Staggs said he would like to be included on the panel as a sixth non-voting member.

Commissioner Roger Leatherman asked that the nominees draft a short letter offering their services to be placed on file.

"I'm glad it is going to a committee and hopefully they will come up with some good ideas to spend this money," said Commissioner Jerry Whisner. "It will only come around once. So we want to make the best of it and get the best bang for the buck."

Whisner said he hopes to see an education program that can reach young kids approaching middle school age before they are exposed to drug usage and peer pressure.

Luke McKenzie, county administrator, said the first installment of the funding is expected to arrive in the next 30 days.

Greg Larry is a reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. To reach him, call 304-639-4951, email glarry@times-news.com and follow him on Twitter @GregLarryCTN.