By JIM McCONVILLE
The Journal
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The cost of West Virginia’s estimated $8.8 billion battle against opioid addiction can also be calculated into regional dollars and cents, according to Kevin Knowles, Berkeley County community recovery services coordinator, who presented monthly Recovery Resource Center figures to the Berkeley County Council Thursday.
According to a study released by Washington, D.C-based American Enterprise Institute earlier this month, West Virginia faces the highest per-capita fiscal burden related to the nation’s opioid crisis, calculated at $4,793 per resident. Maryland ranked the second highest burden, at $3,366 per person, while Nebraska had the lowest, at $465 per resident.
Taking that societal cost down to the county level, Berkeley County’s estimated population of 113,000 roughly translates into a $5.4 million cost to the state.
Read the entire article: http://www.journal-news.net/news/local-news/2018/02/opioid-crisis-carries-local-societal-costs-as-well/
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