WV Attorney General announces Kids Kick Opioids contest winner

It’s just a simple child’s drawing, but the WV Attorney General hopes its simple message will have a profound effect on those fighting opioid and pain killer addiction and give others pause before considering abuse of the powerful drugs.

In a press release from the Attorney General’s office this week, it was announced that 4^th grade student Blake Pacitto of Mercer County recently won the AG’s Kids Kick Opioids contest. His illustration of how opioid abuse threatens all aspects of a user’s life will appear in newspapers across the state.

The illustration is broken into 4 blocks with colorful line drawings of what an opioid abuser could lose, including family and friends, employment, housing and in the final block, freedom or even one’s life.  Blake is a student at Lashmeet/Matoaka Elementary school.  His entry was among 2,087 received from 70 middle and elementary schools across the state which included a mix of drawings, poems, and other designs aimed at promoting awareness of opioid abuse.

Blake’s design and that of the statewide runner-up, Nevaeh Premo of Rivesville Elementary/Middle School can be viewed at wvago.gov.

Kids Kick Opioids is one of many initiatives through which the Attorney General’s office has sought to combat West Virginia’s drug overdose death rate. The West Virginia State Medical Association, West Virginia Association of School Nurses, and the Capitol Police assisted the Attorney General in judging the public service announcement contest.

Blake Pacitto’s winning entry