West Virginia editorial roundup

Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers:

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Jan. 15

Charleston Gazette on a house fire that killed four children in foster care:

Four children, the oldest 8, the youngest 18 months, lost their lives in a tragic fire in Clay County over the weekend. They were foster children in the home. The foster parents and one other foster child made it out alive.

So little is known about what happened at this point. According to a joint statement from the DHHR and the state Fire Marshal’s Office, the cause of the fire remains undetermined, but it was “most probably accidental.”

All anyone can really do is grieve for the lost and those who are still living, who will have to plan funerals and carry this sadness with them long after the last dish of food from sympathetic friends or neighbors is dropped off.

The incident also circles back to an unfortunate reality in West Virginia, that far too many residents die in structure fires.

In an editorial published last month discussing funding for volunteer fire departments, we used statistics from the U.S. Fire Administration - part of the Department of Homeland Security - that showed West Virginia had 13.3 deaths from house fires per 1,000 residents in 2016. That is more than double the national average. Volunteer departments cover fire response for more than 90 percent of the state, and the number of stations and volunteers is shrinking. Those volunteer departments are competing with departments across the country to obtain federal grant money for equipment and operating costs, and that funding pool is also dwindling.

Solving all of those problems might not have prevented what happened in Clay County. There are situations where instant response time, an army of firefighters and all the preparation in the world on the part of those in the house wouldn’t be enough to stop the loss of life.

But West Virginia cannot continue to be a state where fire death rates are so high. The state should be doing everything it can to make its residents safer. That might mean revisiting the way fire departments are funded at the state level (right now, all VFDs get the same amount of funding, regardless of how large an area they cover) or coming up with a specific revenue source (a proposed increase in the insurance surcharge to go to fire departments was defeated in the Legislature a few years ago).

The DHHR found working smoke detectors in the Clay County home. Residents also need to make sure they have working smoke detectors too, and are aware of potential hazards and have a plan for exiting the house in case of fire.

Tragedies will still occur, but the number of such incidents could be reduced if the issue is taken to heart by everyone who can affect change.

Online: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/

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Jan. 14

The Intelligencer Wheeling News-Register on medicinal marijuana rules:

Two marijuana issues are on the agenda for West Virginia legislators this winter. One - whether to legalize the drug for recreational use - is and should be controversial. The other, regarding use of the plant’s active ingredient for medicinal purposes, is not open to reasonable argument.

Lawmakers already have enacted a measure intended to allow sale of THC, found in marijuana, to those who may benefit from it for health care reasons. Prescriptions from doctors will be required. That provides some assurance against abuse. Another safeguard is that the marijuana plant itself cannot be marketed; only the THC, perhaps in pill form, is permissible.

Sales were supposed to begin this summer, but a substantial obstacle lies in the way. It is the fact that sale of any form of marijuana, including THC remains illegal federally.

Of more specific concern are laws that ban financial institutions from handling money raised from sale of illegal substances.

Legislators requested and received an opinion from state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office, stating that federal law “makes it very difficult for medical marijuana businesses to operate in a way consistent with federal law .”

Difficult, but perhaps not impossible.

Thirty-three states permit sale of marijuana or its active ingredient for health care purposes. Many have found mechanisms through which the financial concern can be addressed.

State law on medicinal marijuana needs to be refined to pave the way for sale of the drug to those who may benefit from it.

And, though federal law clearly needs to be updated, too, a philosophy of benign and sometimes active tolerance of medicinal marijuana seems to prevail in Washington.

Perhaps the best route for state legislators to take is not to try to invent the perfect mechanism for addressing the banking question but, instead, to give state agencies the flexibility - within reasonable constraints - to build such a system themselves. Other states have done it. There is no reason we cannot.

Sale of marijuana for recreational purposes will be debated by lawmakers this year. That should not be allowed to stand in the way of enabling use of THC to help those who don’t want to get high - but view the drug only as a way to get by.

Online: http://www.theintelligencer.net/

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Jan. 16

The Parkersburg News and Sentinel on the state attorney general asking legislators to move the jurisdiction of the Medicaid Fraud Unit to his office:

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey may have the right idea in asking lawmakers to transfer jurisdiction of the state’s Medicaid Fraud Unit to his office.

Right now, the state’s Department of Health and Human Resources oversees the unit. Morrisey argues his office can do a better job, and spend less money - which means saving taxpayers money.

According to the Government Accountability Office, total improper Medicaid payments cost the U.S. nearly $29 billion in 2015. And, of course, the percentage of West Virginians reliant on Medicaid - 29 percent - is the highest in the nation. More than 564,000 Mountain State residents working through the system every year leaves plenty of room for fraud.

But Morrisey’s office has a good track record with this sort of thing. Working with the Social Security Administration and the state’s Disability Determination Section, the office has saved the state $13 million through Social Security benefit fraud detection alone since 2015.

“We really are one of the principal offices in this state that goes after fraud,” Morrisey told the state Senate Finance Committee earlier this week.

Lawmakers should consider the change. If it saves taxpayer money and takes another step toward ridding the Mountain State of the fraud and waste that has been aided and abetted by the bureaucracy for so long, it is a no-brainer.

Online: http://www.newsandsentinel.com/