| MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—The shadows lengthened as Michael Cole walked through the cemetery near sunset to his daughter’s grave, where he dropped to his knees and kissed the cool, dark stone of her marker. |
| Head bowed, his hands tenderly swept away bits of grass clinging to the headstone’s base, fingers lingering on shells and heart-shaped stones left as tribute to Lauren Cole’s life. She was 26. |
| Since fentanyl took his daughter five years ago, her father knows the way to Fletcher Cemetery by heart, a grassy spot lined by wildflowers and towering trees where crickets chirp on summer evenings. |
| The route to the cemetery from Morgantown winds past hills and roads with names such as Birch Hollow, to where it ends near Cheat Lake, just south of the Pennsylvania state line. |
| The day his daughter died remains vivid in his mind. He found her slumped over in the front seat of her car, which was still running. |
| The grief still claws at him. |
| Across West Virginia, the epicenter of the fentanyl crisis in the United States, people told The Epoch Times their stories of loss and addiction—but also of hope. |
| From Morgantown to the capital of Charleston along Interstate 79, then south on U.S. Highway 119 to Williamson, families spoke about challenges and victories, large and small. |
Since 2019, synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, have killed more than 350,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
But the latest date from the CDC shows overdose deaths, mainly attributable to fentanyl, have decreased 25 percent across the country.
In West Virginia, the rate dropped 40 percent, but the state still leads the country in unintentional drug overdose deaths per capita, according to CDC data.
Many lay the blame for the crisis on China, which provides precursor chemicals for fentanyl to Mexican cartels, which manufacture the finished product and traffic it into the United States, mainly across the southwest border. |
| Dealers use pill presses to make counterfeit versions of drugs such as Xanax laced with fentanyl, which is considered lethal at 2 milligrams, the equivalent of 10 to 15 grains of table salt. |
| Some believe that poverty, the hollowing out of industries such as coal, and the well-paid jobs that went with them, have played a part in the story of addiction that plagues those who live in Appalachia. |
| Since Lauren Cole’s death, Michael Cole and his wife, Cherie, have made it their mission to save other parents from suffering their own devastating loss. |
| “We need to stop the stigma,” Cherie Cole said, explaining that her daughter felt guilty about relapsing. |
| A social worker pursuing a master’s degree, Lauren had battled addiction for a decade after experimenting with opioids as a teen. |
| The Coles were able to afford multiple stints in rehab, some costing $50,000, even with insurance. |
| But they realized many families couldn’t. |
| After their daughter’s death, they started Lauren’s Wish Addiction Triage Center, a free short-term treatment facility in Morgantown that has served over 1,100 individuals since 2021. |
| It bridges the gap between hospital treatment and long-term rehab—offering meals, beds, and coaching for six to seven days. |
| Michael Cole said only one person who came through their doors has died after leaving against medical advice. |
| But the Coles didn’t stop there. In seeking justice for their daughter, they experienced a system riddled with failure. |
| They fought to get Lauren’s Law passed this spring, which increases penalties for delivering deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, resulting in death. |
| Other parents who lost children to fentanyl say the legal system is either overwhelmed or indifferent, plagued by what they describe as “compassion fatigue.” |
| Andrea Elza carries her 25-year-old son’s ashes in a lip balm tin, scattering them across the country in his memory. |
| Despite providing his phone and evidence, police filed no charges. |
| “No one cares,” she recalled with a bitter smile. “There is no comfort.” |
| Dr. Stephen Lloyd, director of West Virginia’s Office of Drug Control Policy, acknowledges the crisis but sees signs of progress. |
| The state has saturated communities with naloxone, which can reverse the deadly effects of fentanyl poisoning, and treats addiction through medical intervention inside the prison system. |
| The state launched an innovative warning system, much like Amber Alerts, when overdoses from fentanyl started showing up in big cities such as Washington, D.C., in neighboring states. |
| West Virginia is entirely within Appalachia and particularly vulnerable to opioid addiction. |
| Dr. Loyd noted many residents suffer from a mix of trauma, economic depression, and isolation—a “perfect storm” for a drug epidemic |
