President Obama listens to an audience member's question at a town hall meeting in Rio Rancho, N.M. He has scheduled a town hall meeting in Charleston for Wednesday.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the city prepares for a visit from Barack Obama on Wednesday, Mayor Danny Jones encouraged West Virginians to respect president, regardless of views they may have about his policies.

“We’re West Virginians here. We’re not disrespectful of the highest office,” said Jones. “We’re the most patriotic state. We make the biggest sacrifices when it comes to the military, disproportionate to our population, and we ought to act like it.”

Obama will be in Charleston to address the state’s growing drug epidemic. He will be speaking to local and state law enforcement, medical personnel and others who have been affected by widespread drug addiction.

Chris Stadelman, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s spokesman, said Tomblin is looking forward to the president’s visit, especially because he will be discussing an issue that’s been “near and dear to Gov. Tomblin’s heart.”

Stadleman said the Tomblin administration sees the visit as a way to network with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell, a native West Virginian, and others about the drug problem.

“We’re pleased to have them provide some federal resources and insight into other ways that we might be able to attack this,” said Stadelman. “We need to combat substance abuse in the state.”

Jones told MetroNews “Talkline” it’s important the president addresses opiod addiction because it’s been resulting in heroin addiction, along with many overdose deaths statewide.

“Let’s see what we can get out of this,” said Jones. “Who knows? Maybe something good can come out of this.”

According to the state Health Statistics Center, West Virginia tops the nation at nearly 34 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 people—more than twice the national average.

State and local health officials continue to hold drug summits around the state. Needle exchange programs have also been introduced this year in both Wheeling and Huntington.

The time and location of the president’s visit has not been released.

More than five years have passed since Obama last visited the Mountain State.