An opioid-ravaged West Virginia town awaits trial verdict

It’s been six months since closing arguments were held in the first lawsuit over the U.S. addiction epidemic to go to trial

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Sarah Kelly recalls the fleeting moments when she reached out for help during a decadeslong opioid addiction, only to find out no residential treatment beds were available in an overloaded system in her corner of West Virginia.

In the hardest-hit county in the nation's worst-hit state for drug overdose deaths per capita, Kelly’s struggles with prescription pain pills cost her custody of her two children. Her younger sister died of a heart infection from intravenous drug use in 2017.

Somehow, the Huntington resident wouldn't let her addiction win.

“I was so tired of living without them,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t live without them anymore.”