Chuck Taylors and The Pillows

Today I had my first assignment as an intern reporter for WV Public Broadcasting. This assignment consisted of me going to a town hall style meeting at the Cabell-Huntington Health Department, this meeting discussed the issue of addiction in WV and specially the Cabell County area. I grew up in Boone County and I have always heard about cases of addiction in WV, be it alcohol, drugs, tobacco, or something else. I knew that many people suffered from addiction, but I had always presumed that the WV government was doing thing to help those affected by it and those who didn't seek help only had themselves to blame. I had always looked down on those who I'd heard was addicted to something. I was very naive and before this meeting today, I really didn't know much about this issue. It turns out, I was pretty much wrong about everything. Addiction is a disease, not a decision. People that are far into an addiction are no different then people directly before they are diagnosed with diabetes. A person that has gained weight and continues to eat badly with little to no exercise to compensate do these things of their own free will and I've seen personally that typically nothing can make these people change their behavior until their doctor tells them they have diabetes, and in most cases, this new disease serves as a wake-up call and these people have to drastically change their lifestyle, or they very well may die. This situation is not very different from someone suffering from addiction. An addict may have made the initial decision to use a drug or drink alcohol, but when they are in the addiction, there is nothing they can do to stop it without some kind of serious treatment. Most addicts in WV who want help don't know where to go to get it. I learned tonight that the WV government is offering nothing to help these people. There are 210 treatment beds (a place for long term treatment for addicts) in the entire state of WV. This is nowhere near enough. Not only is there not enough, but many of these beds cost anywhere from $60 to $210 a day, and I don't know many addicts that can afford this. I was unaware of this issue before tonight, but now I know that something has to be done. The WV government needs to offer some kind of cheap or free treatment for these people on a mass scale. I know that although one voice may not do much, many can do a lot, so I will take it upon myself to make people aware of this problem. I'm sure there are others like me out there that knew little of this serious dilemma and if I can just let people know what's going on, I am certain we can make a difference. If you too didn't know about this before today, all I ask is that you tell people, tell your parents, your best friend, just spread the word, something has to be done and if one community like Huntington, WV can offer help, then maybe WV and the rest of the country can take notice and offer help to all those that need it.