Oceana, W.Va., residents admit town has a drug problem, but say documentary went overboard

OxyContin has created a nightmare of problems in Oceana, a town of 1,400 in southern West Virginia, but residents say a new documentary called "Oxyana" is misleading in its depiction of the town and its people, reports Dave Boucher for the Charleston Daily Mail. (Photo: A drug is heated in the film.)

Local resident D.J. Morgan told Boucher, "I think that throughout the history of West Virginia, outsiders have always came in and mis-characterized our residents for stories in newspapers that were sold across the country for nothing more than a dog and pony show, and I think that is exactly what [filmmaker Sean Dunne] has created."

Whatever the opinions, the fact is that drugs are a concern in Wyoming County, which has 41,000 residents and 65 drug-related deaths since 2011, 80 percent of them from overdoses, the Wyoming county sheriff's office told Boucher.

In response to the film, Oceana officials have organized a meeting to allow residents to voice their frustrations about it, and for the town "to be honest with ourselves and realize there is a drug problem here and we need to take our town back and our county back," Morgan told Boucher. (Read more)