A West Virginia Senator pushed for more action in prescription drug abuse among students in the state after a roundtable discussion with leading experts and teens at Wheeling Park High School Saturday afternoon.

Law enforcement officials and educators sat with Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V.a., to talk about ways to help and prevent drug abuse among teens. Reports showed hundreds of people die from overdose every year.

"That is just stunning, and we need to talk about what happens with little babies, for example, who are born addicted. What do we do about that?" said Rockefeller.

One teen on the panel suffered from prescription drug addiction and didn't want to be shown on camera.
NEWS9's Briona Arradondo talked to Wheeling Park High School students who spoke about the school's drug free organization and the actions they hope the senator will take.

"If he took away from this that he could make this club available for other schools in West Virginia, that would be great," said McKenzie Rodgers, a student speaker at the event.

Even health care professionals weighed in. A dentist on the panel said they have to be aware of patients.

"Most of the time … we're just going to cover a patient prior to treatment and for a few days afterward while treatment has been rendered rather than getting into chronic pain problems, which led more to addiction problems," said Dr. Michael Medovic, a panelist on dentistry in health care.

Those at the discussion said they are pushing for a comprehensive approach to solving drug addiction, to fight what the senator calls an "epidemic" among students. Rockefeller said the discussion is a part of more drug abuse events in the state this month.