CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Attorney General’s office wrapped up the Opioid Abuse Prevention Game of the Week program Dec. 3 at the Super Six high school football championships in Wheeling.
The program ended with the Dec. 2 game with Fairmont Senior vs. Mingo Central for the AA title as well as the Dec. 3 games with Spring Valley vs. Martinsburg for the AAA title, and St. Mary’s vs East Hardy for the A championship.
The program was brought to fruition by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WCSSAC) with the help of the West Virginia Board of Medicine and the West Virginia Physical Therapy Association.
The idea behind the program is to raise awareness about opioid abuse by reaching out to both students and parents.
“We’ve had a drug epidemic in West Virginia with opioid abuse,” Bernie Dolan, executive director of WVSSAC told The West Virginia Record.
The initiative had informational booths at 56 regular-season games throughout the state. They provided educational materials about opioid use and gave talks to football coaches about discussing the issue with their athletes.
“Student-athletes are first exposed to opioids through injury,” Dolan said.
Athletes, especially football players, are at higher risk for opioid abuse because of the risk of injury they have from playing sports. Opioids are supposed to be used only for pain management and can't aid in the recovery of the injury. They also are highly active and is similar to heroin.
“The Super Six provides a great opportunity to highlight the dangers of opioid use,” Morrisey said. “Everyone must recognize the addictive characteristics of these painkillers and consider safer alternatives, especially for teenage athletes with such promising futures.”
Dolan, along with the Morrisey’s office, hopes to educate the students and parents about how to deal with injury recovery and pain management.
“We want them to talk to their doctor about methods or treatments could be used besides opioids,” Dolan said.
Other forms of pain management the program discusses are non-opioid painkillers, acupuncture, massage therapy and over-the-counter medication.
In some cases, when opioids are necessary for pain management, Morrisey and WVSSAC have urged parents to carefully monitor the use of the medication as well as talking about the dangers of sharing the medication with their classmates.
Dolan is pleased with the results of the initiative.
“We can’t quantify the results,” Dolan said. “But the parents were receptive of the message. It makes them pause at least.”
Although there is not yet data to support the success of the initiative, Dolan believes they will see results down the road.
"We will be continuing to work with the Attorney General’s Office to expand our program,” Dolan said.