Attorney General Morrisey Announces Pocahontas County Student as Statewide ‘Kids Kick Opioids’ Winner

CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced a Pocahontas County student as the statewide winner of this year’s Kids Kick Opioids contest, a public service announcement partnership with elementary and middle schools that encourages students to raise awareness of prescription painkiller abuse.

Judges selected Mallory Koerber from Marlinton Middle School in Pocahontas County as the statewide winner. They chose Koerber’s artwork from entries submitted by students across West Virginia. 

Koerber’s winning design features a drawing of a woman pulling back a curtain on her face to reveal the words, “Addiction is giving up everything for one thing. Recovery is giving up one thing for everything.” 

“Mallory’s artwork hits the nail on the head. Addiction makes people give up everything for that one thing,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “That’s the heartbreaking reality of opioid dependence for people in active addiction and their families. But the rest of the message—Recovery is giving up one thing for everything—is the hope of every person in addiction and every substance abuser’s family.”

Koerber’s design will soon appear in newspapers across West Virginia as the Attorney General’s next public service announcement.

Judges also recognized Isabella Swayne from Andrew Jackson Middle School in Kanawha County and Catherine Tirona from St. Joseph the Worker School in Hancock County as the statewide runners-up. Their designs will appear with Koerber’s on the Attorney General’s website.

The Attorney General received a total of 2,135 entries from 2,177 students at 71 middle and elementary schools across West Virginia. The submissions included a mix of drawings, poems and other designs aimed at promoting awareness.

“I congratulate Mallory, our runners-up and all our regional winners for their hard work and creativity in promoting awareness of opioid abuse,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “We must reach kids at an early age and teach them about the dangers and serious consequences of drug abuse, and we must do everything possible to attack the root causes of addiction.”

Judges recognized winning entries from 69 students overall. Those designs will be displayed in the State Capitol in the fall.

Kids Kick Opioids represents one of many initiatives through which the Attorney General has sought to combat West Virginia’s drug overdose death rate, including a lawsuit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that achieved sweeping reforms to the nation’s drug quota system.

The Attorney General also has fought the opioid crisis with civil litigation, multistate initiatives, funding to target opioid abuse, criminal prosecutions, new technology, engagement with the faith-based community and education.

The West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, West Virginia Association of School Nurses and the Capitol Police assisted the Attorney General in judging the public service announcement contest.