Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS), convened state and community leaders in Dunbar, W.Va. for a summit focused on combating the drug epidemic in West Virginia. This summit consisted of individual panels throughout the day, each focused on one of three main themes: research and prevention, recovery, and law enforcement.
“The scourge of drugs, specifically deadly opioids like fentanyl, has affected far too many West Virginians and their loved ones in our state. Today, some of our brightest minds and strongest leaders came together to identify solutions that have and will continue to combat this crisis. Together, we have identified strategies that will help prevent more West Virginians from falling into the grip of addiction, effectively treat those dealing with substance use disorder and set them on a path of reaching their full potential, and keep dangerous drugs out of our communities in the first place,” Ranking Member Capito said. “During my tenure in the Senate, we’ve made great strides to partner with leaders in West Virginia to combat this crisis, and recent data shows that we are making a difference. However, there is still more work to do. Through my leadership on the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, I will continue doing everything in my power to enact policies and secure resources supporting our efforts to close the book on the drug crisis in our state.”
From her earliest days in the U.S. Senate, Ranking Member Capito has been focused on tackling the drug epidemic in West Virginia. In April 2015, Senator Capito hosted a Drug Prevention Summit in Martinsburg, W.Va., which marked one of her first initiatives in this space as a U.S. Senator. Today’s summit is a follow up to the 2015 summit.
BACKGROUND:
Through her current leadership role on the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, Ranking Member Capito has authored language in several bills to support states and communities hit hardest by the opioid epidemic and delivered federal grant funding for entities dedicated to fighting the scourge of opioids throughout West Virginia.
In 2018, Ranking Member Capito helped pass the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, a bill that delivered a wide range of legislative solutions to help strengthen efforts to fight the opioid epidemic.
Recent provisional data from the West Virginia Department of Human Services shows a potentially significant drop in overdose deaths in West Virginia due, in part, to Senator Capito’s commitment to fighting the drug epidemic.
In September, Ranking Member Capito announced that West Virginia was awarded over $45 million in funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) State Opioid Response (SOR) grant program to fight the opioid epidemic in communities across the state. This funding amount could have been considerably less were it not for language authored by Ranking Member Capito that would ensure states most impacted by the opioid crisis would receive more funding for their efforts. Specifically, Ranking Member Capito’s language set aside 15% of SOR funds for states with the highest mortality rates from opioid use. Since the creation of the SOR grant program in 2018, Ranking Member Capito has secured over $200 million for West Virginia to fight the opioid epidemic.