In US, an Epidemic of Prescription Drug Abuse
In US, an Epidemic of Prescription Drug Abuse – This is the VOA Special English Health Report from voaspecialenglish.com | http Officials in the United States say deadly abuse of painkillers and other prescription drugs has reached epidemic levels. More than thirty-six thousand people died from drug overdoses in two thousand eight, the latest year available. That was almost as many as from road crashes. More than half of the overdoses involved drugs that need a doctor’s approval. And three-fourths of those deaths involved what are called opioid pain relievers. These include drugs like methadone; morphine; hydrocodone, also known as Vicodin; and oxycodone, or OxyContin. Death rates from prescription drugs were highest among people forty-five to fifty-four years old.A recent government report said painkiller deaths more than tripled in the past decade. They now top the number of heroin and cocaine deaths combined. The Obama administration released a plan last year to try to deal with the problem. Some abusers seek help at places like the Malibu Beach Recovery Center near Los Angeles. They learn yoga and other ways to deal with anxiety, stress and pain. Joan Borsten heads the center. She says stopping is difficult because “in the case of pain pills, the body has stopped producing its natural defenses to pain,” and users have to have more and more. Around the country, special drug courts work with addicts to get them counseling and treatment. Mary Ann Gunn is a retired drug-court judge. She now appears on “Last Shot With …
Heroin abuse in Louisville surging: Addicts turn to drug amid crackdown on …
Filed under: Drug Abuse California
Two recovering addicts describe heroin's growing p…: Cheaper than pills with the same high, heroin is becoming easier to get. But as one recovering addict says, on the dead end street of drug use, heroin is "the last house on the left." …
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Brent Shapiro Foundation Raises 0000 To Battle Addiction
Filed under: Drug Abuse California
Robert Shapiro said they were also celebrating the passage by the state of California of the '911 Good Samaritan Overdose Response Act' (AB 472), to provide protection against arrest for minor drug law violations for anyone who summons emergency …
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