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Visit to the US city of Huntington: More deaths from drugs than from Corona

Reportage

Status: 23.06.2021 10:58 a.m.



Huntington, in West Virginia, has held the sad record of most drug deaths for years. In the pandemic, the number of overdose victims doubled again.

By Julia Kastein, ARD Studio Washington, currently Huntington




A late afternoon at “Rebuild”. The neighborhood meeting place in a cozy, worn-out brick villa is located between many vacant houses in Huntington. Luke also stopped by for a chat. The 41-year-old with a bald head and a crucifix around his neck has been fighting his drug addiction for over 20 years. To prevent him from injecting heroin, Luke has been receiving the substitute drug buprenorphine for five years. Almost three months ago he relapsed anyway – and smoked crack.

I think it was just bored, “he says.” Now I have a job and haven’t taken anything in two months. I was hooked for 15 years. If you stop doing that, you have to find something to fill the time. Because that was my life.

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