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Mountain State Highs and Lows: Morrisey, Williams gubernatorial debate focuses on state opioid crisis

Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, right, and Democratic Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, left, had a back-and-forth over the state’s opioid crisis Tuesday night in a debate at Fairmont State University moderated by WV MetroNews Talkline Host Hoppy Kercheval. (Photo courtesy of WV MetroNews)

MORGANTOWN — The first and likely last debate between Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Democratic Huntington Mayor Steve Williams for the race to be West Virginia’s next governor brought out a fight between two candidates who have fought the state’s drug crisis in different ways.

Leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties declared victory for their respective candidates after Tuesday night’s debate between Morrisey and Williams at Fairmont State University sponsored by WV MetroNews.

“West Virginia voters witnessed the stark contrast between a public servant who has dedicated his career to this state and a Washington lobbyist who’s spent years profiting off corporate interests,” the West Virginia Democratic Party said in a statement Wednesday morning. “Huntington Mayor Steve Williams stood tall as the only candidate with a real vision for West Virginia’s future, while Attorney General Patrick Morrisey once again showed he’s out of touch with the needs of our people.”

“West Virginia will be in great hands with Patrick Morrisey as our next governor,” said Matt Herridge, chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party, in a statement Tuesday night. “…General Morrisey demonstrated a clear vision to continue making West Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”

During Tuesday’s debate, Williams raised the issue of Morrisey’s previous work in the mid-2000s for a pharmaceutical trade group that represented companies later sued for their role in manufacturing and distributing highly addictive prescription opioids that fueled West Virginia’s ongoing substance use disorder crisis.

“(Morrisey) was in the swamp in Washington D.C. and…you were representing some of those same companies that we ended up suing,” Williams said Tuesday night.

During Williams’ tenure as mayor, Huntington and Cabell County brought a lawsuit in 2017 against AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., and McKesson Corporation. That lawsuit is still pending.

According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, more than 780 million prescription opioids flooded the state between 2007 and 2012. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, West Virginia’s drug overdose death rate increased from 36.3 per 100,000 people in 2011 to 90.9 per 100,000 people in 2021. Those numbers were first fueled by prescription opioids, then heroin, and then fentanyl.

Morrisey has been hit with his lobbying past by past Democratic opponents for attorney general and in his unsuccessful U.S. Senate race in 2018 challenging U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, formerly a lifelong Democrat before registering as unaffiliated earlier this summer.

But Morrisey has successfully sued opioid manufacturers and distributors, including a nearly $1 billion settlement with major pharmaceutical companies over prescription opioids. Morrisey’s focus the last several years has been pressuring the federal government to take a stronger role in preventing the trafficking of fentanyl from China, through Mexico, and into the U.S.

“Now we’re in an election year, so you’re going to hear different rhetoric,” Morrisey said, dismissing Williams’ criticisms of his past lobbying work. “I want to make sure that we’re going to build on that success in fighting the drug epidemic because fentanyl is a huge problem.”

The Attorney General’s Office and a coalition of cities and counties secured more than $940 million in lawsuits against eight opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies: Johnson and Johnson, Teva, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Walmart, Allergan and Rite Aid. Out of that lawsuit came a memorandum of understanding between all 55 counties and more than 220 cities and municipalities creating a formula for distributing opioid settlement monies and creating the West Virginia First Foundation.

The West Virginia First program divided settlements from opioid manufacturers and distributors, with 24.5% going to cities and counties, 3% going to the Attorney General’s Office and 72.5% going to the West Virginia First Foundation, a private non-profit approved by the Legislature, to ensure funds are evenly distributed for combating the supply of cheap opioids, funding substance use disorder treatment and recovery programs, job training and education, and other tools to help them with long-term recovery.

“A couple years ago we put together an abatement structure for all 55 counties that earned the support of every county and virtually every municipality,” Morrisey said. “It passed unanimously through the Legislature. It was signed into law by (Gov. Jim Justice) with over $1 billion in gross monies.”

Morrisey first announced the West Virginia First plan in 2022 at a press conference with Williams by his side. Williams lent his support for the West Virginia First plan, even though any future settlement between Huntington/Cabell County and the pharmaceutical companies it is suing would not be part of the West Virginia First formula

“I want to thank you…because you came to the press conference,” Morrisey said to Williams Tuesday night. “At that press conference, the mayor was very favorable.”

The West Virginia Department of Human Services announced last week that overdose deaths in West Virginia continue to join a nationwide decrease, with a 34% decrease in provisional drug overdose deaths comparing the first four months of 2024 to the first four months of 2023. Drug over deaths decreased from an estimated peak of 1,515 deaths in February 2022 to an estimated 1,131 deaths as of July.

One of the hardest hit counties during the worst of the opioid crisis was Cabell County. According to the state DoHS drug overdose dashboard, there have been 1,023 drug overdose deaths in the county between 2015 and 2021.

Huntington became infamous for heroin overdoses, once recording 28 heroin overdoses in a four-hour period in one day. Williams, who took office as mayor in 2013, created teams to quickly respond to overdose issues, worked to implement treatment options, and then joined Cabell County in filing an ongoing lawsuit against major opioid manufacturers and distributors. Since taking office, Williams said his city’s reputation has made a recovery.

“I took a city that was sitting in a position of the most obese, the most unhealthy, and the most drug-addicted city in the nation,” Williams said. “Now we’re identified as the top 100 cities in which to live, top 50 cities in which to retire, the 17th best run city in the nation, and also in the top 100 safest cities in the nation.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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