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Last week, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., read on the Senate floor a letter from a Parkersburg family that has been devastated by the opioid epidemic. Renee and Criss Fisher bravely retold their story for Manchin to share with the nation, perhaps in the hope that their tragedy might help someone else.
Their son, Nick, fell victim to prescription pill abuse, and when he and his family had difficulty getting him professional help, he tried to detox himself. Meanwhile, according to the Fishers, most treatment facilities would not take their insurance; and many counseling services said they were unable to help. His family was hesitant to press charges against Nick, to force him into court-ordered treatment.
When Nick relapsed, one last time, the overdose that killed him was not of heroin, but of straight fentanyl.
This local family's story includes so many facets that make this plague difficult to defeat.
Pills were easy to get, at first, the Fishers said. Nick was able to fake ailments to get prescriptions, or buy pills from dealers. That speaks to the urgent need for the federal government to shut down the massive overproduction of opioids they have allowed, as drug companies cash in on this epidemic. It also speaks to the number of medical professionals who were willing to be "fooled" by fake ailments.
Then there is the difficulty in getting into a treatment facility, unless it is accompanied by a criminal record. As we address the shortage of open slots in these facilities, lawmakers must also make sure they have the means to take in as many who seek treatment as they can hold.
"People need treatment," Manchin said. "This is an illness that needs treatment and we are responsible for that."
Finally, there is the emergence of even deadlier drugs, like fentanyl, peddled to extraordinarily vulnerable addicts by those who know full well they are selling a killer. Progress is being made, as prosecutors begin to win cases against dealers whose clients died from overdoses of the poison they sold.
There are many heads to this monster -- the pharmaceutical industry and its regulators; incredibly unscrupulous medical professionals and pharmacists; the number and accessibility of treatment facilities; dealers and the ever-deadlier product they sell; and, of course, the underlying reasons some folks fall into addiction in the first place. The Fisher family sent a letter that allowed Manchin to give Congress a glimpse at all of them.
Surely federal and state lawmakers have had time to zero in on those targets.
Appalachia and the other regions stricken by this plague are running out of time for them to do something about it.