Drug Overdose: A Growing Epidemic?
Yet another family is left shattered due to the affects of drug overdosing this week. We have seen several of these heartbreaking cases over the last few weeks; the photograph from Ohio of two people passed out in a car with a young boy in the backseat, the video of a young girl trying to wake up her mother in a convenience store, a seven year old who told a school official that she couldn’t wake her parents up at home, and, most recently, the four children in Hazelton who are now without a mother and have a father in critical condition.
Liverpool Ohio drug overdose
According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental deaths in the U.S. and drug usage is on the rise. Drug overdoses have increased 137% from 2000, with a 200% increase in overdoses involving pain relievers and heroin. Pennsylvania alone saw a 30% increase in overdoses in 2015, ranking 8th in drug overdoses across the country in 2014.
Two of these cases have hit close to home, right here in Pennsylvania. If you or a loved one are struggling with drug addiction there are ways to prevent and even treat drug overdoses. Thanks to a low cost, non-narcotic drug called Naloxone, many overdoses have been reversed helping to save lives. For more information on how to get Naloxone, or to help end drug overdoses, check out the websites below:
http://www.canadianpharmacy365.net/
http://www.overdosefreepa.pitt.edu/
