With Hillbilly Elegy author and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, being selected as Donald Trump’s running mate, the topic of opioid abuse in Appalachia is once again front and center.

So how are we doing as a state in our handling of the opioid epidemic?

The good news is that West Virginia has sizable reserves to spend on drug treatment and addiction prevention. As a result of a lawsuit initiated by state attorneys general, the state received more than $1 billion from a legal settlement with the drug wholesalers and manufacturers–some of whom referred to their victims as “pillbillies”–who created and abetted the opioid epidemic.

The bad news is that the state is dragging its feet in disbursing the money, which it received in December. That’s partly because only in mid March did it name Jonathan Board as the executive director of the West Virginia First Foundation, which will distribute about three quarters of the money; the rest will go to local governments.

Speedy disbursement of funds is critical to prevent the needless deaths of parents, sons, and daughters. But the problem isn’t limited to a lack of urgency. The lion’s share of the money is earmarked for overdose prevention, addiction treatment, and recovery, but many local communities see this financial windfall as a readily available piggy bank that can be raided to fund other projects.

The Mingo County Commission, for instance, reportedly approved using settlement funds for live-scan fingerprint machines and handheld radios. While they no doubt need the equipment, it should not be purchased with funds meant to benefit people directly affected by the opioid epidemic.

Likewise, Wheeling received $740,000, with much of that initial funding going toward the city’s police and fire departments.

Some West Virginians are calling out this misappropriation of funds. “The sad fact is that a police side-by-side — a golf cart — would not have saved my friends, but treatment and prevention could have,” Zane Miller, who lost two close friends to the opioid epidemic, said at a recent Wheeling City Council meeting.

“This money is for victims,” East Wheeling resident John Russell, who has lost a dozen of his friends to the epidemic, said. “The police department is not a victim here. By the time the police are called to respond to these drug situations, prevention is long done. We need prevention — put the money there.”

We have a sense of urgency in West Virginia because of the scope of our crisis. I was raised here and have lived here for many years. I have become so concerned about the number of preventable drug deaths that I am working with a nonprofit organization, Harbor Path, that is trying to distribute naloxone everywhere there is a need for it. Aside from preventing use in the first place, the best way to prevent death after an overdose is the use of naloxone (more commonly referred to as Narcan).

If used quickly, naloxone can reverse opioid overdoses and save countless lives. As such, having naloxone should become as commonplace as having aspirin, ibuprofen, or even a fire extinguisher in your home.

With the amount of money that West Virginia is receiving, it would be feasible for every kitchen in our state to have an overdose-reversal kit attached to the refrigerator with a magnet.

If the goal is to save lives, broad naloxone distribution to first responders, churches, homes, schools — anywhere an overdose victim might be encountered — would be a huge first step toward achieving it.

The increase in preventable opioid deaths in our state is shocking. The rate per 100,000 people increased from 36.3 in 2011 to 90.9 in 2021. Think of the parents, grandparents, and children affected by that jump.

It is unfortunate that some Americans view naloxone distribution as a liberal idea that only enables drug addicts to keep using. While some of the deaths were attributed to regular drug use, others merely had the bad luck to ingest — or even accidentally touch — something laced with fentanyl.

The toll is twofold because countless children are losing parents to drug overdoses. Without help, that childhood trauma could lead to adult addiction later in life. West Virginia ranks seventh in the number of children living with someone who has a drug problem.

The people who are distributing these funds have good intentions, but that alone won’t save lives.

Please urge your local and state leaders to use this money immediately for the treatment and prevention of opioid addiction, and for the distribution of naloxone. This strategy will save lives.

Erin DeLullo is a graduate of Shepherd College (now university) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and a resident of the Eastern Panhandle. She serves as a consultant for HarborPath.