West Virginia'S Drug Crisis

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, President Obama is coming to West Virginia today to talk about our State's and Nation's drug crisis. What I hope he will also talk about on his visit to our capital city, Charleston, what I hope he will acknowledge, is our State's jobs crisis. West Virginia has lost good jobs: jobs in our coal mines, jobs in our schools and small businesses, jobs in our small towns and communities throughout southern West Virginia.

Regulations from the President's own Environmental Protection Agency are forcing coal mines to close. Our coal miners are out of work. Our coal families are facing an uncertain future. We have lost an estimated 43 percent of our coal jobs in just the last 6 years under this administration's policies.

Eighteen percent--18 percent--of unemployed people reported using illegal drugs. That is more than twice the number of people who used illegal drugs who were employed. The best antidrug policy is a good jobs policy.

West Virginia has the highest overdose rate in the country. We also have the highest unemployment rate in the country. Nearly every family in this State has been touched by drug abuse and, tragically, far too many families. There are those who have suffered and actually buried a loved one due to the horrible disease of addiction.

The President will announce several initiatives to help address the heroin and opioid crisis. He is going to talk about prescriber training. He is going to talk about access to naloxone, a powerful antidote to an overdose. He is going to talk about public education.

He is going to talk about public education. These are all excellent steps. These are actually things we already are doing in West Virginia. We have taken great strides on many fronts, including these in West Virginia, to arrest this problem.

These proposals, however, I am afraid, do not go far enough to really make a difference and treat those battling addiction. The President needs to propose a strong plan to get people real treatment to address their addictions and become healthy and productive members of society again.

Many West Virginians who want treatment don't have anywhere to go. Those suffering from addiction are forced to leave West Virginia to find help, treatment, and their families are falling apart.

To improve West Virginia, to give West Virginians hope for a better future, to give them an alternative to destructive lifestyles, we have to get people back to work.

Mr. President, a good job solves a lot of problems.

West Virginians are a proud people. We are not asking for a handout. We want to do a full day's work for a full day's pay.

The administration is crushing West Virginia's coal miners, machinists, healthcare workers, truckers, small business owners, and Main Street.

Mr. President, if you want to help win the war on drugs, stop your war on coal. What we need is the Federal Government to get out of the way of West Virginia, and let us get back to work.

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