PKG | Recovering heroin addict: "They call Martinsburg ‘Little Baltimore'"
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Danny Dulyea is not only a former Martinsburg resident, he is a former heroin addict.
“Something that is actually said between addicts that are on heroin,” Dulyea explained to WHAG, “they call Martinsburg 'Little Baltimore.'"
The son of a Berkeley County councilman, Dulyea didn't grow up in a bad neighborhood or come from a bad family.
However, he had to leave it all behind just to seek proper treatment.
"I had to move. I had to leave,” Dulyea said. “[Heroin] is too accessible here in this county, and there is very little help. There's hardly [any] help in this county for any type of addiction."
According to a recent report from the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), Berkeley County only offers two of five treatment options recommended for successfully combating a heroin addiction.
Additionally, one of the options they do offer (intensive outpatient treatment), only has limited access available.
"The first thing you need is to look at being able to stabilize the [addict], and that generally means some time in a detox facility,” said Ruth Phillips, the associate deputy director of the Washington-Baltimore HIDTA chapter, and one of the key officials who oversaw the research of the recent report targeting Berkeley County.
“[Detoxification] is one resource that is not available in the area - not at all."
Other unavailable resources include coordinated early intervention and residential (inpatient) treatment.
In West Virginia, additional research provided by the Trust For American’s Health, shows that you are more likely to die of a drug overdose than in a car accident.
For every 100,000 people, almost 29 will die of a drug overdose.
According to data provided by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, only 18 West Virginians, per every 100,000, will die in a car crash.
"If [community residents] even admit that [heroin] is a problem in the area, their response is: ‘Well, we don't need treatment programs here, we need these people to go out of our neighborhood, and go somewhere else for their treatment,’” Phillips explained.
“That's exactly the opposite of what has to happen."
Because, according to HIDTA, refusing to open your arms to a heroin treatment center will only open doors to heroin addiction.
While HIDTA reports a lack of treatment options in Berkeley County, the Jefferson Day Report Center, located nearby in Jefferson County, is a great place to begin treatment for a heroin addiction, according to HIDTA officials.
The catch? You have to go through the criminal justice system just to get a referral to the program, and access is limited.