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"I think the collapse of the coal mining economy was the killing blow, especially in SW W.Va. Mostly thanks to Obama’s War on Coal. Leaving little but tourism, governmental largess, and hard scrabble farming to support the state."

It's that "governmental largess" that caused the problem and now it's the drug epidemic that's solving it.

Back in the day (pre-70's) everybody knew who the "bad" families were and you kept your kids away from them and kids from good families didn't marry kids from bad families because "you don't want to end up like them, do you?" And then the feds came in a set up support programs for single mothers and what used to be a rare and self-extinguishing lifestyle out here in the hills exploded into a flood of fatherless households.

Fatherless households that had just as much money (or more) than a two parent household with a working father.

It's hard to convince your kids to stay away from that lifestyle if it's easier and just as profitable as the "work hard and keep your nose clean" path you try to send them down - but now with drugs killing the druggies right and left it's a whole lot easier to keep your kids on the straight and narrow.

Hard hearted of me? You bet, but life's not supposed to be easy and personally, I'm glad to see those choosing the easy path reaping their just rewards and leaving God's green earth to those of us that appreciate the gift.