When I left Richmond to come out to the mountains, I was amazed at the number of defendants that seemed to be dropping dead from overdoses before they could make it to trial. It seemed incredibly out of proportion to anything I'd seen before, but I didn't have any evidence to back up my observations.
Recently, while researching a paper I came across statistics showing the per capita deaths from drugs from the Virginia Medical Examiner and the results are fairly determinative.
| Year | Worst | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth |
| 2003 | Craig | Home City | Russell-1 | Lee-1 | Home County |
| 2004 | Lee-1 | Bland-3 | Russell-1 | Dickenson-1 | Tazewell-2 |
| 2005 | Pulaski-4 | Buchanan-2 | Russell-1 | Dickenson-1 | Lee-1 |
| 2006 | Home County | Dickenson-1 | Tazewell-2 | Russell-1 | Highland |
| 2007 | Dickenson-1 | Home County | Pulaski-4 | Emporia | Russell-1 |
| 2008 | Dickenson-1 | Home City | King & Queen | Buchanan-2 | Highland |
Home County & City are the two jurisdictions I work in (Home County surrounds Home City). The red counties are those in Far South West Virginia (you know, the 4 hours of Virginia west of Roanoke) and the number next to the red counties is how far they are from Home County & City. Blue counties are east of West Virginia, but are mountain counties on the West Virginian border.
Now, if a mountain county appears once or twice it is probably a statistical anomaly. After all, the populations of these counties are much smaller than a NoVa county like Fairfax. What is disturbing about the chart is that the counties are consistently in the top 5 per capita. Two Far Southwestern counties are in 5 of the 6 years. Two others are on the chart for 3 of the 6 years. Furthermore, 25 of 30 are clustered in Far Southwestern Virginia counties. At this point it starts to look like we aren't looking at a statistical anomaly at all. Instead, we are looking at the level of fatalities when the primary abused drugs are "legal" pills.
2 comments:
I have to say I too disagree that government regulation of the product would drive use to a lower level (safer).
I am for decriminalization of some, okay one, drug. Mainly because people are amazingly stupid. Collectively we determine many things that individually we very probably would never know, or at least wouldn't without irreversible consequences.
I'm curious though about the chart you had. How much of an affect do you think the more rural nature of the area, and commensurate increase in time between discovery of an OD and medical treatment, have in it do you think?
Having read an article from 2007 about the difference in rates (34-44/100,000 v. 7/100,000 state average) makes it very clear though that it isn't likely to explain the disparity. I have to admit I really am looking forward to reading your article when you're all done with it.
Marijuana though, THC specifically, with its absence of even one recorded human overdose is a different story altogether. I cannot reconcile the facts of its danger (or absence actually) relative to either tobacco or alcohol and keeping it illegal out of any misguided notion of public safety.
Not sure why, but Bad Monkey's comment wasn't posted. So, I'm going to post it for him:
From: Bad Monkey
I have to say I too disagree that government regulation of the product would drive use to a lower level (safer).
I am for decriminalization of some, okay one, drug. Mainly because people are amazingly stupid. Collectively we determine many things that individually we very probably would never know, or at least wouldn't without irreversible consequences.
I'm curious though about the chart you had. How much of an affect do you think the more rural nature of the area, and commensurate increase in time between discovery of an OD and medical treatment, have in it do you think?
Having read an article from 2007 about the difference in rates (34-44/100,000 v. 7/100,000 state average) makes it very clear though that it isn't likely to explain the disparity. I have to admit I really am looking forward to reading your article when you're all done with it.
Marijuana though, THC specifically, with its absence of even one recorded human overdose is a different story altogether. I cannot reconcile the facts of its danger (or absence actually) relative to either tobacco or alcohol and keeping it illegal out of any misguided notion of public safety.
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