POPULATION CONTROL? –
Mar. 9, 2026 – A law limiting the number of treatment beds in each county stands in the way.
“I have two teenage daughters,” said Josh Barker, who leads the Attorney General’s Office’s opioid epidemic effort and is in recovery himself. “If they got hooked on drugs, I have no place to send them in this state.” Barker said there are some programs for youth who are already deeply entangled with the legal system. But if a kid with substance use disorder decides to get treatment, they have to go to Pennsylvania, North Carolina or Utah.
In 2023, Wood County Republicans in the statehouse pushed to cap the number of treatment beds per county, arguing that the county didn’t have the resources to help people stay in recovery after completing treatment.
An Ohio company has plans to build a juvenile treatment facility in Cabell County. But the county already has the maximum number of beds. Rather than lift the cap entirely, lawmakers are moving legislation to allow the addition of 100 youth treatment beds statewide.
