THE TODAY OPIATE EPIDEMIC By every measure, the opiate epidemic today is as destructive to American society as any war we have fought abroad. e number of deaths from prescription opioid overdoses has quadrupled since 1999. In 2010, approximately 100 Americans died every day from an opioid overdose.e rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased by 137 percent since 2000. Almost everyone knows someone who has died or been made dysfunctional because of drugs. In 2014, 47,055 Americans died from drug overdoses. is is 1 1/2 times more than the number of people killed in car crashes that year. About 61 percent of those deaths were from opioids. But the death toll is only part of the story. For each death, there are friends, family members, neighbors, and others who have suered because of that overdose death. What can be done? A rst step is to recognize that drug addiction is a disease, not simply a personality failure of the addict. Once you understand how addiction changes the brain and the addict’s behavior, it becomes possible to nd solutions for the disease.
e road to recovery for the addict and the addict’s friends and family is not easy. At Allied Health Clinic, we are committed to helping the addict with a medically assisted opioid withdrawal program that combines Suboxone (and later Vivitrol) and counseling. Ours is a holistic program that considers all the addict’s health problems. We have chosen this medical program because it has proven to be successful in getting people o drugs–and keeping them o. It rapidly allows the addict to resume a normal life–working, getting an education, being a parent, and so on. It also helps to prevent overdose deaths and the transmission of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. If you or a friend or family member is ready to get his or her life back, Allied Health Clinic is ready to help.
For more information Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jan. 1, 2016, Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths —United States, 2000–2014. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6450a3.htm Oce of National Drug Control Policy, Feb. 11, 2014, Fact Sheet: Opioid Abuse in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/les/ondcp/Fact_Sheets/opioids_fa ct_sheet.pdf Rocheleau, M., May 3, 2016. Opioid overdose deaths by Mass. town in 2015. Boston Globe. Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/03/map-opioid-overdose- deaths-mass-town/Ckn7zRuySCj7WYZWKqbvjI/story.html
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