Starting this week – and for the first time since January 2023 – The West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy has a permanent director.

Dr. Stephen Loyd, an internist and addiction medicine specialist from Tennessee, began his work on Monday after was appointed head of the agency last month.

Loyd holds a medical degree from East Tennessee State University and previously worked as chief medical officer at Cedar Recovery in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. He also chaired the state’s Opioid Abatement Council. Before that, he was Tennessee’s leading drug policy expert and held the position of opioid commissioner for the state’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Use Services for about two years.

Loyd’s first act as head of the state Office of Drug Control Policy was to give a presentation to members of the Joint Standing Committee on Health, outlining his approach to his new position and what he believes could help the state successfully combat the ongoing drug and overdose epidemic.

“West Virginia was ground zero of the opioid crisis. This is where it started. This is where it continues to this day, and there were a lot of really great people in this state who worked really hard, and for whatever reason we are where we are, right?” Loyd said. “I think it would be great if West Virginia showed the rest of the country how to get out of this crisis, and I think we can.”

A key part of fighting the epidemic, Loyd said, is increased attention to measurable outcomes of what works for addiction. He said the state needs to get “creative” in its approaches and ensure responses are coordinated and strategic, with communication among the various agencies that deal with people affected by substance use disorders.

The first thing he will look at, he said, is the state’s criminal justice system and Medicaid.

“There is no state in the United States that is going to effectively address the opioid crisis without addressing the criminal justice system. That’s not going to happen,” Loyd said. “There are so many people incarcerated in our prisons and jails across the United States who suffer from substance use disorder. That number is so high that it doesn’t matter what you do outside. If you don’t address the problem there, we’re going to be failures, I promise you that.”

When people with a substance use disorder are released from prison, they are 40 times more likely to overdose and die in the days following their release than other people in their community, Loyd said.

“That’s one of the biggest gaps we have right now,” Loyd said. “That’s a no-brainer and we can address it, but we need to have quality facilities in our community that treat people that accept Medicaid and have standards of care that I believe this legislative body can implement to ensure that. I will bring those ideas to you, I promise you that shortly.”

In general, the state needs to make better use of its data analysis, Loyd said. He would like the state to make “a small investment up front” to create a “roadmap” for the response.

Loyd previously served as volunteer co-chair of The Helios Alliancean Alabama-based organization that uses “innovative, transformative (and) evidence-based technologies” to address the opioid epidemic while educating the public about intervention options. He is not currently listed as a co-chair on the organization’s website, and it is unclear when he left that position.

In March, Loyd said KFF Health News that he believes statistical modeling and artificial intelligence can be used to create a simulation of the opioid crisis that could predict what types of programs would be most effective at saving lives. That modeling, he said, can help local agencies figure out how best to invest the money they receive from opioid settlement funds. It’s unclear how far along the effort to create that modeling — which was estimated to cost about $1.5 million for Alabama — currently is. According to KFF, Helios Alliance has also been “in discussions” with leaders in Tennessee and West Virginia to create simulations.

When it comes to finding creative answers, Loyd said, leaders should look at existing policies and laws and perhaps use them in new ways. He pointed to incarceration in psychiatric facilities, where people who might harm themselves or others are subjected to psychological evaluation for several days.

If this law could be applied to someone who injects drugs — which he says poses a clear danger to the person — providers could use that time to try to get the person into a rehabilitation system. But to do that, there has to be a reliable system in place for them to enter. He said he wants to immediately learn about West Virginia’s rehabilitation infrastructure and the challenges that exist there.

Loyd told lawmakers that his involvement in addiction support stems in part from his own experiences with the disease. The inspiration for Michael Keaton’s role in the Hulu miniseries “Dopesick” (based on the 2018 film “Dopesick”) book of the same name by journalist Beth Macy), Loyd has been on the road to recovery from his opioid and benzodiazepine addiction for 20 years.

He wants to ensure that through his work, people with substance use disorders have the same opportunities as he did to enter a functioning rehabilitation program and reclaim their lives.

“This is my life,” Loyd said. “I wake up every morning with one goal, and that is to help as many people recover as possible. That’s all. I really don’t care about anything else.”

Different people, Loyd said, have different paths to recovery. The important thing is to make sure there are solid, reliable systems in place that they can use, whatever their path.

“We need to talk about evidence-based prevention strategies that work. And folks, I don’t care what the political motivations are. I don’t care what the motivation is,” Loyd said. “I want to do things that work and save people’s lives and give them the opportunity to do the things that I’ve been given the opportunity to do in my life.”