MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — William Ihlenfeld, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District, is preparing to roll out a plan in North Central West Virginia on drug addiction, prescription abuse, and physician education.
“We are almost ready to roll our plan out for North Central West Virginia,” said Ihlenfeld. “Our committees have been meeting on a regular basis developing their plans and their ideas. We’re excited to roll that out in the near future.”
A similar plan has already been unveiled in the Northern Panhandle, but the Prescriber Education Conference in Morgantown on Friday will help teach physicians exactly what to look for when it comes to prescription drug abuse.
“One physician can really wreak havoc on a community if he or she is not prescribing properly,” he said.
There have been cases in West Virginia of physicians and pharmacists failing to follow proper guidelines. Most notably was the arrest, plea, and sentencing of former Bridgeport Mayor Mario Blount.
“The bottom line is it’s more than just prosecuting these cases from my office,” said Ihlenfeld. “It’s about more than that. It’s about trying to find solutions to these problems so that we don’t have to prosecute these types of cases.”
The conference will be held at the Lakeview Resort from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 12th.