With Kentucky in sight, Elizabeth Warren pitches her plan to battle opioid addiction

In a crowded fire department in Kermit, West Virginia, less than half a mile from the Kentucky border, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren laid out her plan Friday to bring millions of dollars to communities rocked by the opioid abuse crisis.

Among the crowd were people like Cheri Ooten, a Kermit native whose stepdaughter died of an overdose, and Kermit Fire Chief Tommy Preece, whose brother died of an overdose in 2017.

Much like communities just across the Tug Fork in Eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia has some of the highest overdose rates in the nation.

Warren’s plan, which includes invoking a new tax on people who make more than $50 million a year and taking a tougher stance with pharmaceutical companies, resonated in Kermit.

In 2017, the town, which has a population of about 400, filed suit against five major drug wholesalers following a report from the West Virginia Gazette-Mail that found drug firms shipped more than 9 million doses of the pain-killer hydrocodone to Kermit between 2007 and 2008.

“Nobody could justify the amount of pills that came into this place,” said Tish Chafin, an attorney with the Chafin Law Firm, who is representing Kermit in the suit.

Chafin, who came to see Warren, said she supported Warren’s proposal.

Warren, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, said the plan would raise $100 billion over the next ten years, with $100 million going to communities in West Virginia. (She has not said how much would go to Kentucky.)

The proposal would put a 2 cent tax on every dollar earned over $50 million in a year, Warren said.

Much of that money would go to communities hit hardest by opioid addiction, and the federal government would work with local governments to best serve the needs of individual communities, she said.

“We can actually change this,” Warren said.

Warren’s millionaire tax could also pay for universal child care for children up to five years old, she said, and for pre-Kindergarten education for kids ages three through five — Martin County, Kentucky, within sight of the fire hall where Warren spoke, does not have a single child care facility.

Her plan also promises to erase student debt for 95 percent of people with student loans.

During Warren’s speech, jeers and the occasional car horn rang out from a small group of protestors, holding signs and flags praising President Donald Trump.

Kirstyn Ooten, who lives with her grandmother, Cheri Ooten, because of addiction in her immediate family, said she appreciated that a presidential candidate would visit such a rural, out-of-the way community, and hoped Warren’s plan could bring some relief to her town as it continues to battle overdose and addiction.

“At this point I feel like we’re begging for a saving grace,” said Kirstyn, who is 18. “People say (opioid addiction) happens everywhere, but if you come down here, if feels different. It’s your mom or your dad — it hits harder here.”

According to multiple Kermit residents, the last presidential candidate to make it to town was John F. Kennedy, in 1960. In May 2016, Hillary Clinton visited nearby Williamson, on the border with Pike County, Kentucky, where she was greeted by a long line of angry protestors.

In Kermit, though, Warren was greeted with cheers and a standing ovation.

She spoke of a humble upbringing. The daughter of working-class parents, Warren dropped out of college at 19 to marry her high school sweetheart, and had her first daughter when she was 22. Warren and her first husband eventually divorced, and she married her current husband in 1980.

She worked as a special education teacher and earned her law degree from Rutgers University. Warren went on to teach law for more than 30 years at universities including Rutgers, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.

In Kermit, Warren’s life story seemed to strike a chord with the crowd, as did her general message of raising taxes on multimillionaires to bring more social services to rural and historically poor communities.

“I believe in an America that works for everyone, that’s why I’m here in Kermit,” Warren said.

Abby Minihan, who drove from Huntington to see Warren, said she liked that a presidential candidate would travel to such a small community.

Like many attendees, though, Warren’s tough stance on prescription companies hit home the most.

“The damage that they have caused is in the billions of dollars,” Minihan said. “These are the people that came in here and devastated our communities, they should be the ones to fix it.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2019 at 4:29 PM.