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Back from the Brink: Heroin’s Antidote

The United States has seen a spike in Opioid abuse over the last decade, in 2010 an average of 100 people died a day due to an overdose. Drug overdoses now kill more people each year than gun shot wounds or car crashes but finding a solution has been hard because of the stigma surrounding drug users and lack of support for programs that are based on reducing the harmful effects of drug use rather than those requiring abstinence.

New England in particular has been hit hard by this rise in fatal overdoses and in Massachusetts deaths by heroin and other such opiates has rising by more than 90% since 2002. In response the states started a controversial program that provides ordinary people with the tools to prevent a fatal overdose. This “tool” is known by its brand name Narcan and it is in fact a nasal spray that can instantly stop an opioid overdose.

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  1. sounds great except the tax payer is the one that pays for the repeated trips to hospital and the medical care, extra law enforcement, huge amount of street crime that happens but if they just died it would reduce all that i stated. they are adults and chose to take heroin and one effect is you may die and they know the risks

    • Roy, you are not vert knowledgeable about this sort of stuff, are you? That is unfortunate. A taxpayer burden, sure, but the choice part is very wrong. Pray you don’t need pain medication someday. Ya never know who’s gonna win the addiction lottery!