These guys work so hard, in such vicious conditions, if it isnt one thing giving them a hard time it something else. GOD DAMN YOU BLACK LUNG!

Good post, tchengrox.

I know drug problems stalk coal miners and their communities here; I think a few Alberta and BC towns have the highest per capita methamphetamine use in Canada or something. I'm curious to know if these same drugs are common here, too.

God only knows how some small mines meet safety standards. I had the misfortune of going underground once in one small-op mine once, and I've never wanted to get out so bad in my life ( I like safety, and having no mine engineers and letting the mine foreman run the show so that a stope collapses damn near beside us as we examine the ore zone is not my idea of fun). Mines can be dangerous places, and I think health insurance is something they should be required to offer.

Do you (anyone who reads this comment) feel that health care would abate the drug abuse in these communities? I personally am not sure.

Thanks, Tundra. I honestly don't know. How much is the drug abuse due to need for painkillers or a need for escape? Miners should get health insurance as a benefit for doing a job that is so hard on mind, body, and soul. I can see why companies wouldn't offer it, though, because it would so expensive with the way healthcare is provided in the U.S.

VA won't give this out unless you are dying of cancer, no matter HOW much pain you're in.

Pain control in American medicine is a scary subject. Doctors are (quite rightly) concerned about prescribing a possibly addicting substance (except Vicodin...) to just anyone in pain. Check how many people with chronic pain problems such as arthritis and fibromyalgia are on anti-depressants. Chronic pain will depress ANYONE, let me tell you! Add to that the difficulty in convincing your doctor that you have OTC resistant pain, and you just get more desperate and unhappy.

If the miners can get it and afford it, well, let them have it! Booze is cheaper, but not really a faster way to die....

Here in WV, the Oxycontin abuse isn't by miners... it's become a black market street drug.

Quite true, and sad. In Huntington, it's very popular among restaurant servers who spend all day on their feet, and nearly every kid in this area has spent time in the restaurant biz. I have quite a few friends who've been addicted on and off. If it's not OCs, it's Lortabs.

The methadone clinic is almost a rite of passage here.