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 …
Religion Briefs For Jan. 11
Filed under: drug addiction help for families
About 60 people gathered at Calvary Church in Orland Park for the second annual prayer vigil focusing on drug addiction support. Attendees … Families are being encouraged to plan skits, practicing songs or set up dance moves for the show. Volunteers …
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Guns, drugs, car crashes leading causes of US youth mortality: Report
Filed under: drug addiction help for families
Dr. Steven Woolf, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. A US study has found that younger Americans die earlier and live in poorer health than their peers in other developed countries, with far higher …
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Drop in heroin use in young adults
Filed under: drug addiction help for families
In the first of a series of stories on the impact of drug abuse across Shetland, CADSS general manager Gill Hession warns so-called “legal highs”, typically given such names as Annihilation, K2 or Mary Joy Pink, can still pose major problems for drug …
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