Charleston is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of West Virginia and the seat of Kanawha County. It is at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers. The population was 48,864 at the 2020 census. According to 2023 census estimates,the city has a population of 46,838. The Charleston metropolitan area had 203,164 residents in 2023.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is a component of the Executive Office of the President of the United States.
Drug czar is an informal name for the person who directs drug-control policies in various areas. The term follows the informal use of the term czar in U.S. politics. The 'drug czar' title first appeared in a 1982 news story by United Press International that reported that,"[United States] Senators ... voted 62–34 to establish a 'drug czar' who would have overall responsibility for U.S. drug policy." Since then,several ad hoc executive positions established in both the United States and United Kingdom have subsequently been referred to in this manner.
Joseph Anthony Manchin III is an American politician and businessman who served as a United States senator from West Virginia from 2010 to 2025. He was West Virginia's only congressional Democrat until he registered as an independent in 2024. Manchin served from 2005 to 2010 as the 34th governor of West Virginia and from 2001 to 2005 as the 27th secretary of state of West Virginia. Before entering politics,he co-founded and was president of Enersystems,a coal brokerage company his family owns and operates.
Michael P. Botticelli is an American public health official who served as the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) from March 2014 until the end of President Obama's term. He was named acting director after the resignation of Gil Kerlikowske,and received confirmation from the United States Senate in February 2015. Prior to joining ONDCP,he worked in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Following completion of his service as ONDCP Director,he became the executive director of the Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine at the Boston Medical Center.
Patrick James Morrisey is an American politician and attorney serving since 2025 as the 37th governor of West Virginia. He served from 2013 to 2025 as the 34th attorney general of West Virginia. A member of the Republican Party,he was elected state attorney general in 2012,becoming the first Republican in the role since 1933. Morrisey ran for the United States Senate in 2018 and narrowly lost to incumbent Senator Joe Manchin.
Paul Thomas Farrell Jr. is an American attorney from Huntington,West Virginia who ran for President of the United States in the 2016 West Virginia Democratic primary.
Jerome Michael Adams is an American anesthesiologist and a former vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as the 20th surgeon general of the United States from September 5,2017,until January 20,2021. Prior to becoming Surgeon General,he served as the Indiana state health commissioner,from 2014 to 2017.
The 2020 West Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 3,2020,to elect the governor of West Virginia,concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election,as well as elections to the United States Senate,elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
There is an ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States,originating out of both medical prescriptions and illegal sources. It has been described as "one of the most devastating public health catastrophes of our time." The opioid epidemic unfolded in three waves. The first wave of the epidemic in the United States began in the late 1990s,according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),when opioids were increasingly prescribed for pain management,resulting in a rise in overall opioid use throughout subsequent years. The second wave was from an expansion in the heroin market to supply already addicted people. The third wave,starting in 2013,was marked by a steep tenfold increase in the synthetic opioid-involved death rate as synthetic opioids flooded the US market.
Keith Humphreys is an American psychologist who is currently the Esther Ting Memorial Professor at Stanford University,a Senior Research Career Scientist in the Veterans Health Administration,and an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry,King's College,London.
Eric Eyre is an American journalist and investigative reporter,best known for winning the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for exposing the opioid crisis in West Virginia. He was a statehouse reporter for the Charleston Gazette-Mail. He resigned his position in April 2020. He is also the author of the book,Death in Mud Lick:A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic.
Heroin(e) is a 2017 American short documentary film directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon and produced by Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 90th Academy Awards.
In the United States,a quick response team (QRT),also known as a drug abuse response team (DART),is an integrated,first responder and community paramedicine unit comprising law enforcement officers,rescue personnel,health care professionals and / or substance abuse counselors.
A take-home naloxone program is a governmental program that provides naloxone drug kits to those that are at risk of an opioid overdose. Naloxone is a medication that was created to reverse opioid overdoses. As an opioid antagonist,it binds to the μ-opioid receptors blocking the opioid's effects. Naloxone quickly restores normal respiration. The ongoing opioid epidemic has caused many public health authorities to expand access to naloxone.
Taylor P. Weyeneth is an American former Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and White House Liaison who served from January 23,2017,to February 27,2018,under President Donald Trump. The Deputy Chief of Staff position is considered to be the "second most important position" in the ONDCP. Before taking the position at ONDCP,Weyeneth served as the Deputy White House Liaison at the United States Department of the Treasury,as an advisor to the executive director of the Presidential Transition Team,and began his political career as a campaign staffer for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
The opioid epidemic,also referred to as the opioid crisis,is the rapid increase in the overuse,misuse/abuse,and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs called opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the significant medical,social,psychological,demographic and economic consequences of the medical,non-medical,and recreational abuse of these medications.
The U.S. state of West Virginia reported its first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 17,2020,becoming the last state to do so. The patient had shown symptoms for several days prior. On March 29,2020,the state reported its first COVID-19 death.
In response to the surging opioid prescription rates by health care providers that contributed to the opioid epidemic in the United States,US states began passing legislation to stifle high-risk prescribing practices. These new laws fell primarily into one of the following four categories:
- Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) enrollment laws:prescribers must enroll in their state's PDMP,an electronic database containing a record of all patients' controlled substance prescriptions
- PDMP query laws:prescribers must check the PDMP before prescribing an opioid
- Opioid prescribing cap laws:opioid prescriptions cannot exceed designated doses or durations
- Pill mill laws:pain clinics are closely regulated and monitored to minimize the prescription of opioids non-medically
Regina LaBelle is a professor and the director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the Georgetown University Law Center's O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. She was the acting director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) from January 20,2021 to November 5,2021,and the only woman to ever lead this office. She was named deputy director and served as acting director by President Joe Biden on the first day of his presidency. Prior to her work with the Biden Administration,she was the Chief of Staff of ONDCP under President Barack Obama.
