West Virginia's opioid crisis is transcending partisan politics as city council candidates from three different parties tackle the issue in the capital of Charleston.
Joe Solomon, Democratic candidate for city council and co-director of the non-profit Solutions Oriented Addiction Response, stops by a syringe disposal box outside the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Charleston, W.Va. Solomon had spent three days eating at soup kitchens and sleeping under bridges and in parking lots while interviewing residents about the changes theyd like to see in the citys response to issues like homelessness and substance use. – Dr.
But people are divided, even if not on party lines. Against CDC guidance, state and local officials voted last year to criminalize programs that give people who inject drugs clean syringes to prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C.
Solomon, a trained social worker, co-runs the nonprofit Solutions Oriented Addiction Response. He said members of his organization felt a sense of urgency in 2020 when they began setting up tents in church parking lots and handing out sterile syringes. Pharr, who lost her brother to an overdose, said the issue is personal to a lot of people and she understands their fear.
“They’ve never had more money in the history of money in this city, and you could make the case that there’s never been more stigma in the history of stigma,” said Solomon. “How bad does the pain have to get until the city says we need to have a vision for a city of mercy, for a city of solutions?”“Sometimes it feels like they live in a very different reality than what’s really going on, or they choose not to acknowledge it,” he said.
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West Virginia's opioid crisis transcends partisan politicsWest Virginia's opioid crisis is transcending partisan politics as city council candidates from three different parties tackle the issue in the capital of Charleston
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