West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute

Since its inception in 2019, the Institute has trained over 30,000 people on naloxone administration (either in person or via an online platform), distributed 100,000 fentanyl test strips in all 55 West Virginia counties, implemented the "Be the One" program on 27 college and university campuses in West Virginia in collaboration with the West Virginia Collegiate Recovery Network and Marshall University Research Corporation, and expanded its service area to include as a priority all of Appalachia, and additionally, the United States. Through the Institute's Don't Keep Rx Around medication safety program over 40,000 youth and families in 33 West Virginia counties have been educated on the importance of safe medication use, storage, and disposal. Through a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, the program is slated to be available nationwide in Spring 2024 via PBS's open-source learning platform. In addition, the Institute co-produced a documentary that featured West Virginia high school students and shared their perspectives on substance use, vaping, and mental health to educate the public and inform preventionists on the best use of resources to combat youth substance abuse, reduce youth overdose, and increase access to mental health resources for teens. Additionally, WVDII has also distributed 8,000 ONEboxes (opioid naloxone emergency kits) in 41 states with over 130 reports of lives saved. The ONEbox is an emergency opioid overdose reversal kit designed to promote safety by assuring that individuals have lifesaving naloxone and on-demand training required for by-stander intervention during a drug overdose. The ONEbox features a 60-second emergency training video that allows anyone to respond in case of an overdose and be able to administer naloxone, even if no previous training has been completed. Additionally, there is a long form training video that can be used to train individuals or groups of people on naloxone administration. The Institute also has worked to increase West Virginia's recovery workforce in partnership with the state's Office of Drug Control Policy. Fifty percent of the Institute's employees are persons in long-term recovery.