WVU in the News: Experts: Meth overtaking opioids in Morgantown, beyond
For several years, Morgantown and other localities across West Virginia have been fighting the opioid epidemic, but all the while another substance has been emerging as the next drug crisis — methamphetamine.
Anecdotally and statistically, meth is overshadowing opioids in clinical and law enforcement circles as a prevalent drug issue in the area, according to officials.
“Meth is making a takeover from the opiates — heroin specifically,” Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston said. “That’s not just a local thing. That’s actually a national trend.”
According to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 1.6 million people reported using methamphetamine in that year. Since about 2018, meth has played a role in more deaths than opioid painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics as reported by The New York Times.
In 2017, West Virginia had one of the highest rates of psycho-stimulant-involved death rates, which includes methamphetamine, of any state in the country, according Dr. Gordon Smith, a physician epidemiologist and professor in the West Virginia University School of Public Health.