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 …
State moving forward with prescription tracking, tools for doctors to combat …
Filed under: drug abuse
Doctors in New Hampshire will soon have access to a new online registry of resources designed to prevent the abuse of prescription pain medications. Due to launch this weekend, the new online tool was announced at a press conference yesterday featuring …
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48 per cent of drug offenders held last year were Malay
Filed under: drug abuse
Nearly half of all drug offenders arrested last year were Malay, Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli said in Parliament on Wednesday. He highlighted the worrying trend even as he called for a more concerted effort to fight the …
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Prescription Drugs On The Black Market
Filed under: drug abuse
In 2010, 16 million Americans reported using a prescription drug for non-medical reasons. CBS13 went undercover and found it's easy to get these drugs on today's black market. But when you see the effects of misused and abused prescription drugs, you …
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Fun run marks war on drugs in Makati
Filed under: drug abuse
On Thursday, Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay commended the Makati Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Madac) and the Station Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Task Group for the arrest and prosecution of 150 people involved in drug-related cases.
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