Banner Staff Report

The Fourth Annual Logan Co. Drug and Tobacco Summit will be coming to Logan on Sept. 25, 2008 at the Chief Logan Lodge and Conference Center.

Special geust speakers include counselors, law enforcement officials as well as those in recovery who will speak on topics related to drug abuse, neglect, rehab and constructive change.

William F. Pettit, M.D., the medical director of the West Virginia Initiative for Innate Health and a member of the clinical faculty of the WVU School of Medicine-Dept. of Behavioral Medicine & Psychiatry and Linda Sandel Pettit, Ed.D., a counseling psychologist and life coach, who has provided mental health services and education in university, hospital, community agency, and private practice settings since 1983.

Together, they have applied the principles of Mind, Thought, and Consciousness/Innate Health in their practices with gratifying results for may years.

Registration is set for 8-8:30 a.m. and keynote speaker, Dr. William F. Pettit will speak from 8:45-10 a.m. Dr. Linda Sandel Pettit will speak from 10:30 a.m. to noon and then a roundtable discussion will be held from 1-2:15 p.m. From 2:30-4 p.m., there will be a panel discussion.

PIECES board member Charles Brown said the drug court program is getting one step closer to Logan County.

As reported in The Logan Banner last year, the program is designed to deal with habitual substance abusers by taking them out of the regular system and will move from Boone County to Logan and Lincoln counties.

"We will have it started as soon as the grant funds are available," Brown said. "It is already operating without funding in Boone County."

Brown said Logan, Lincoln and Boone Counties are all pitching in for a total of $45,000 for for one year to hire a regional drug court director and staff and fund the operation. The drug court hopes to find funding from other sources next year.

Brown also spoke about a drug-endangered kids workshop he recently attended. Brown, who is the county's chief probation officer, admitted that even he "learned a lot of things" at the workshop. Brown noted that some of the myths about how the state's pharmacy board works were also discussed. Brown said that pharmacies are required to report information about narcotics dispensed within five days and that it is a requirement not; something they have a choice in the matter on. That way law enforcement can find out if individuals are getting the same substances from different doctors and pharmacies.

Brown said he found recent ads on local radio promoting Suboxone to be very disturbing. Members of PIECES had noted the drug was being prescribed in large doses months ago and most were not surprised to immediately find the drug popping up as the new drug of choice on the streets when addicts began getting arrested with it on their persons.

John Mays said nine local physicians are prescribing Suboxone in the area. Mays said by law each physician is allowed to prescribe the drug to up to 100 patients. However, he noted, one physician got caught exceeding that by about 400 patients.

In other PIECES news:

* PIECES had a board meeting after the regular meeting. Minutes from the last meeting and the financial statements were approved.

* Director Stephanie Burchfield said she recently attended a faith-based summit in another county as part of a substance abuse panel and found out that the county received a grant to do another one next year. Burchfield said she wants to see Logan included in it.

* Brown asked Logan County Board of Education President Phyllis Adkins to work on a meeting between the two organizations. Brown noted that both Adkins and former Superintendent of Schools David Godby have been of major assistance to PIECES over the years. Burchfield praised grade school counselors for their work on the Two Good For Drugs curriculum and said it would be a good idea to address the BOE on that program.

* Emily Hill was approved to do the After School Drug Prevention program at West Chapmanville.

* Burchfield said 20 people applied for a job posting at PIECES and the selection committee had narrowed it down to six applicants who would be interviewed in the next two days.

PIECES will meet again on October 6 at noon at the Presbyterian Church on Stratton Street.