Residential treatment services for substance abuse will be offered in five additional West Virginia counties.
The state Department of Health and Human Resources announced the availability of $1 million in funding to expand treatment services in Clay, Fayette, Kanawha, Nicholas and Roane counties.
The DHHR says in a news release it is accepting applications from vendors for existing or newly constructed facilities with treatment beds. Legislation passed last year mandates that DHHR allocate additional treatment beds to be operated by the private sector.
DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch says the expansion will help reduce overdose deaths and lower economic costs to the state. More than 30,000 West Virginians are already in drug treatment and the state has the nation's highest drug overdose death rate.
