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Monday, January 13, 2014

The Growing Problem of Drug Abuse

     A governor broke with tradition [on January 8, 2014] and devoted his entire state of the state address to drug addiction. Peter Shumlin, the governor of Vermont, urged residents to open their eyes to the growing problem in their front yards, rather than leaving it only to law enforcement, medical personnel and addiction treatment providers. Shumlin argued the facts speak for themselves.

     In Vermont, since 2000, there has been a 770 per cent increase in treatment for all opiates. He stated, "What started out as an OxyContin and prescription drug addiction problem in this state has now grown into a full-blown heroin crisis. And last year we had nearly double the number of deaths in Vermont from heroin overdose as the previous year."

   In turns out Vermont is not the only state facing this crisis. According to the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, the number of deaths involving heroin surged 45 percent between 1999 and 2010.

Judy Woodruff, PBS News Hour, January 9, 2014 

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