Kanawha County Leads the State in Overdose Deaths

State health data shows West Virginia has seen a record number of fatal overdoses from methamphetamine this year, increasing by 500 percent since 2014. The Gazette-Mail reports statistics released by the West Virginia Health Statistics Center show about half of the overdoses involved the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. The statistics show 30 residents of Kanawha County have died of meth-related overdoses this year, the highest in the state, followed by 28 deaths in Cabell County. They were followed by Raleigh and Wood counties with eight such deaths apiece.