Obama targets nation's heroin problem in West Virginia trip

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama highlighted a growing U.S. heroin problem on a trip on Wednesday to West Virginia, which has been economically battered by a shrinking coal industry, and which has the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the country.

Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin traveled with Obama and warned that many listening to the president would blame the state's heroin problem on Obama's energy policy, which mandates a shift toward clean energy and away from coal.

Between 2012 and 2013, West Virginia lost 16 percent of coal jobs, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"Anytime you have a loss of jobs, loss of income, loss of purpose, loss of family, you're going to have people turning to different things," Manchin told reporters aboard Air Force One. "And that's why you'll see people today that are very upset about that, that we have taken it on the chin."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-target-nations-heroin-problem-west-virginia-trip-160738570.html

[msongs]

1. legalize it and deal with the issue upfront and in public nt

[JoeyT]

2. We've got a terrible heroin problem in Alabama too.

And we aren't even a coal state. So that's clearly nonsense.

Now the war on drugs...yeah, it's at least partially responsible for how common heroin is.

[JonathanRackham]

3. It goes beyond heroin.

Kids here steal prescription drugs from their parents to use for "recreation". All the legalization of heroin won't help that problem. Addictive personalities are unique and difficult to understand. My kids have known a few kids who have died.