Drugs in the United States: West Virginia

State Facts Population: 1,808,344 Law Enforcement Officers: 3,360 State Prison Population: 3,313 Probation Population: 5,994 Violent Crime Rate National Ranking: 30

2001 Federal Drug Seizures Cocaine: 8.2 kgs. Heroin: 0.1 kgs. Methamphetamine: 0.5 kgs. Marijuana: 90.5 kgs. Clandestine Laboratories: 13 (DEA, state, and local)

Largely rural, West Virginia’s most pronounced drug problems involve the abuse and clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine, marijuana consumption and cultivation, and pharmaceutical drug diversion and abuse. Cocaine, crack, and MDMA are available in most areas of the state. Drug distributors in West Virginia are uniquely placed to take advantage of sources of supply from nearby eastern cities like Baltimore, Pittsburgh or Washington, DC, as well as large midwestern cities such as Columbus, Ohio, and Detroit.

Cocaine: Cocaine hydrochloride and crack cocaine are widely available in most West Virginia cities. Crack cocaine abuse generally remains confined to low and low-middle income individuals, but crosses all ethnic lines. There is some violence associated with the crack trade in the state. Cocaine availability is limited to large-retail or small-wholesale quantities. Source areas for cocaine are more varied than for other drugs consumed in the state and are largely based on the trafficker’s location within West Virginia.

Heroin: Both the demand for and the availability of heroin are very limited throughout West Virginia. Small enclaves of long-term heroin addicts exist, who rely on one another to procure supplies of heroin from secondary source cities such as Philadelphia and Baltimore. The heroin sold in West Virginia typically retains the street/brand name and packaging of the Philadelphia or Baltimore-area supplier.

Methamphetamine: Clandestine methamphetamine laboratory activity in West Virginia has increased threefold in the past several years. Previously, methamphetamine manufacture appeared to be centered in the Panhandle region of the state, but has expanded to include other areas of northern West Virginia as well as some clandestine laboratory sites in the southeastern portion of the state bordering Kentucky and Virginia. In addition, methamphetamine distributors in West Virginia often share Mexican sources of supply with distributors in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley region.

Club Drugs: There is increased demand for Ecstasy (MDMA) throughout West Virginia, but abuse remains fairly concentrated near Morgantown, the location of West Virginia University. Demand for MDMA in college towns is sufficient to ensure that thousands of the pills reach West Virginia every month. Because of West Virginia’s remote terrain, the area is purported to host numerous private “rave” parties, but attendance at large-scale, publicized raves has been disappointing to promoters.

Marijuana: Both imported and locally-cultivated marijuana pose a serious drug threat in West Virginia. Although the state ranks 37th in population in the United States, West Virginia consistently ranks in the top ten states for marijuana eradication. West Virginia commonly serves as a source area for domestic marijuana. The Appalachia HIDTA was established initially to combat marijuana cultivation in the tri-state area – Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia – although that mission has expanded.

Other Drugs: OxyContin and Other Prescription Drug Diversion: West Virginia abusers of the pharmaceutical drug Oxycontin garnered a great deal of media coverage in the past year or more. West Virginia, along with neighboring and nearby states Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, were among the first areas in the United States to experience widely publicized problems with OxyContin diversion and abuse. Pharmaceutical drug abuse in general, however, has always been an enormous concern in West Virginia, particularly in the southern region.

DEA Mobile Enforcement Teams: This cooperative program with state and local law enforcement counterparts was conceived in 1995 in response to the overwhelming problem of drug-related violent crime in towns and cities across the nation. There have been 348 deployments completed resulting in 14,794 arrests of violent drug criminals as of June 2002. There has been one MET deployment in the State of West Virginia since the inception of the program. The MET deployment to Charles Town, West Virginia resulted in 18 arrests and the seizure of 3.5 ounces of crack cocaine.

Special Topics : The Washington/Baltimore HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) supports and assists in the funding of a multi-agency enforcement task force and an Intelligence group in Washington, DC. In addition, the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department has its own Major Narcotics Branch, and other drug and violent crime-related enforcement operations in place.

Subscription trials to Health magazines and related pubs: Outside Additional Trials: Fitness Consumer Reports: On Health O Magazine Flex Prevention

Magazine Shop »