West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to Conduct Opioid Outreach at Football Games
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West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced his office will feature two local gridiron matchups as Opioid Abuse Prevention Games of the Week.
Those games are today's 7 p.m. matchup between Wheeling Park and Brooke high schools at West Liberty University, and at 7 p.m. Friday when Weir High School visits cross-county rival Oak Glen High School.
Throughout each week the initiative engages with student-athletes, coaches, school officials and communities across West Virginia. Field representatives discuss the dangers of opioid use with the respective coaches and provide educational material for display and distribution in the schools to foster more discussion of the issue.
The week culminates with the attorney general's office staffing an information booth at each of the select sporting events to distribute opioid abuse awareness materials.
"Alleviating the opioid scourge is vitally important to making our state the best it can be," Morrisey said in a release. "This epidemic has taken too many of our young people and left children without parents. As long as we work together, we will make a difference."
The initiative, now in its second year, is part of a broader partnership to tackle opioid use in high school athletics. It involves the attorney general's office, the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission and the West Virginia Board of Medicine.
Those groups are attempting to highlight that while opioid painkillers may temporarily relieve pain, they do nothing to address the underlying injury and can have serious side effects. They worry the unnecessary usage of opioids to treat athletic injuries could lead to increased dependence, abuse and addiction, and are advocating for alternative forms of pain management, including physical therapy, non-opioid painkillers, acupuncture, massage therapy and over-the-counter medication.
Parents and caregivers are urged to discuss alternative treatment plans with their child's health care provider. If an opioid proves necessary, they are encouraged to strictly use the medication as directed, closely monitor their child's use, safely dispose of any unused pills and talk about the inherent dangers of misuse, abuse and sharing.