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Consortium to consult surgeon general on drug woes

FOCUS ON DRUG PROBLEM — U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-Wheeling, talks about the urgent issue of drug abuse in the Ohio Valley during a visit to Wheeling Jesuit University on Monday. -- Janet Metzner

FOCUS ON DRUG PROBLEM -- U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-Wheeling, talks about the urgent issue of drug abuse in the Ohio Valley during a visit to Wheeling Jesuit University on Monday. -- Janet Metzner

FOCUS ON DRUG PROBLEM — U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-Wheeling, talks about the urgent issue of drug abuse in the Ohio Valley during a visit to Wheeling Jesuit University on Monday. — Janet Metzner

WHEELING — Higher-education administrators who are members of the Ohio Valley Research Consortium plan to contact the U.S. surgeon general to help study the Ohio Valley’s drug addiction problem.

After meeting with consortium members at Wheeling Jesuit University on Monday, U.S. Rep. David McKinley said he wants Surgeon General Dr. Vivak Murthy to spearhead a movement to prevent drug abuse — first in the Ohio Valley, and then possibly nationwide.

“We are trying to encourage him to up his game on drug use throughout the country,” McKinley, R-Wheeling, said.

Drug addiction is a focus of the consortium, made up of administrators of eight higher-education institutions in West Virginia and Ohio. The group aims to find ways to change the economy and access federal research money to study the source of the valley’s economic woes.

After only a few meetings, they have found there’s a direct connection between addiction, unemployment and an unprepared workforce in the area.

Meanwhile, Murthy already has a focus on the addiction issue, and he released Thursday results of what his office called a “landmark” study showing that one in seven people in the U.S. is likely to develop a substance addiction, either to alcohol, illicit drugs or prescription drugs.

The report, titled “Facing Addiction,” calls for increasing the number of addicts treated, according to a news release from Murthy’s office.

Murthy said addiction is an “epidemic” and a “crisis,” and most people don’t know the magnitude of the problem, the release states.

But the consortium wants information on the source of the addiction problem.

For example, they want to know why the Ohio Valley has the highest level of drug overdoses in the country. McKinley said he wonders whether the problem is a lack of jobs or a lack of education.

“We don’t know. … Let’s make sure we can identify where the problem is,” he said.

Paul Abraham, dean of Ohio University Eastern, said the consortium needs a way to collect and analyze hospital records, overdose police calls and more. The consortium may seek federal dollars to research the matter and find ways that data can be better recorded.

These days, drug addiction affects the performance of the Ohio Valley’s higher education students, the employability of job candidates and the development of the workforce, consortium members said Monday after their meeting, which was closed to the public.

“We’re trying to decide what the main problem is for the region — how the addiction problem affects the immediate area,” said Belmont College President Paul Gasparro.

The addiction issue is centered around the issue of unemployment, Gasparro said. For example, he said at Belmont College, “we teach people to do truck driving, and they don’t pass the (drug) test. So we have to bring in truck drivers from throughout the state,” leaving local ones unemployable, he said.

Consortium members include administrators from the West Virginia institutions of Bethany College, West Liberty University, West Virginia Northern Community College and Wheeling Jesuit University. Ohio consortium members are from Belmont College, Eastern Gateway Community College, Franciscan University of Steubenville and Ohio University Eastern.

Abraham said some consortium members have been talking with public health agencies to gather information on drug abuse and prevention.

But they’re at a point where they need some help collecting and analyzing data.

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