On Thursday, January 4th, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions effectively ended the federal policy of non-interference with marijuana-friendly state laws. Needless to say, this is controversial for a lot of reasons, mainly because it’s a step back in the nation’s ongoing battle against opioid addiction. An interesting nugget the Trump administration might want to take Read the Full Story >>
Public Health
Out of the Darkness, Into the Light
This will be the third year that Shepherdstown and its surrounding communities will come together to shed some light on an important issue. The Shepherdstown ‘Out of the Darkness’ walk has been an event rapidly growing over the last two years, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is expecting an even larger turnout this year. Read the Full Story >>
Hunger in America: Hard to Deny and Closer Than You Think
Today, there are more than 48.8 million Americans (including 13 million children and 5 million seniors) struggling with food insecurity, according to Feeding America and the USDA. Poverty in America is the leading cause, with more than 40 million people currently living below the poverty line (over half end up being children—many of whom depend on schools for a daily meal). Read the Full Story >>
WV’s One Remaining Abortion Clinic Mirrors National Trend
The recent closing of the Kanawha (WV) Surgicenter, which left Charleston’s Women’s Health Center (WHC) the state’s only abortion provider, is part of an unnerving national movement decreasing access to women’s reproductive health, experts say. Read the Full Story >>
SNAP/WV FresHealthy Bucks Program Alive and Well
The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, has expanded its benefits, and will now be accepted at local farmers markets in the Eastern Panhandle. Read the Full Story >>
Seeing Addiction Through a New Lens
— Surgeon General upgrades definition—sparks new perspective. Addiction treatment has come a long way from its earliest roots in both effective options and societal attitudes. Once thought of as a sinful overindulgence reflecting a lack of self-control and discipline—a moral failure or corruption on the part of the user—is now largely understood as a progressive Read the Full Story >>
Measuring Success in Lives Saved
— Jefferson Day Report Center positioned productively on front lines of addiction epidemic. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 60 percent of individuals arrested for most types of crimes test positive for illegal drugs at arrest. Nearly 50 percent of jail and prison inmates are clinically addicted, and 80 percent abuse drugs and Read the Full Story >>
Parenting Practices for Protection and Prevention
There are few things that overwhelm me like the thought of my kids struggling with addiction in the future. Right now they are young, vibrant, and super curious about life. But before long, the possibility of them being offered a drink or a smoke, or something else, may come their way. While this is scary Read the Full Story >>
I Lost My Brother to Mr. Brown
Mike Chalmers is a consulting editor and former editor-in-chief (2016-2020) for The Observer. — If we’re going to truly address the addiction epidemic, we’ve got to be brutally honest about it. I’ll go first. When we took over at the new Observer, we knew we wanted to place ourselves firmly within the emerging conversation surrounding Read the Full Story >>
It’s Here
Katie Spriggs remembers the first time she sheltered a sex-trafficked victim at the Shenandoah Women’s Center in Martinsburg—or rather, the first time she knew that the woman seeking refuge had been trafficked. Read the Full Story >>