Georgia Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic
Georgia Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic
Georgia in Top 11 Worst Off States for Opioid Overdoses
Georgia ranks #11 in states with most prescription opioid OD deaths, with 549 opioid drug ODs in 2015 and 29 counties where drug OD rates outpace the U.S. average. Nearly half of young people who inject heroin start by using Rx drugs. According to Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, some teens might try prescription medication at a party because they are curious or think it will make them feel good. Medicines most commonly abused are shown here: http://medicineabuseproject.org/medicine
Or they might start taking it legally, when it has been prescribed for pain. Habit quickly becomes dependency with these highly addictive opioids, and once legal prescriptions run out, affected teens will turn to illicit opioids, and then heroin.
Governor Deal recently expanded access to naloxone to reverse opioid OD’s after seeing the White Paper that I recently edited and produced for my client, Georgia Prevention Project. Please take a moment to read the Executive Summary up front. Then sit down and talk with your kids.
