In America's drug death capital: How heroin is scarring the next generation

In America's drug death capital: How heroin is scarring the next generation

Heroin's shattering force hit Huntington, WV, in a span of 5 hours 28 overdoses, 2 deaths. Here is the story of the day when all hell broke loose.

Photo by Rachel Hortman

CNN | 2016

Sara Murray tends to two dozen babies in the neonatal therapeutic unit at Cabell Huntington Hospital. They shake. They vomit. Their inconsolable, high-pitched screams pierce the air. The symptoms can last for hours, days or months.

Graceful and soft-spoken, Murray is a seasoned nurse tirelessly defending the innocent. But even she gets worn down. On difficult days, she seeks a moment of refuge behind her desk and wonders: How did we get here?

These babies -- her babies -- are the youngest, most vulnerable victims of a raging epidemic. They are heroin babies, born addicted.

Her third-floor unit, a calm and quiet space with dim lighting, is meant to accommodate 12 babies, but it's been two years since the numbers were that low. One in 10 born at the hospital endures withdrawal from some type of drug -- heroin, opiates, cocaine, alcohol or a combination of many.

That's about 15 times the national average. The figures reflect a startling reality about this Appalachian town of 49,000 on the banks of the Ohio River: One in four residents here is hooked on heroin or some other opioid, local health officials say. That's a staggering 12,000 people dealing with opioid addiction, in a state with the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the nation.