News / Education
Prescription Drug Abuse Killing Kentucky
485 people died in Kentucky last year from prescription drug overdoses
"It's an epidemic and I'm afraid we're losing a whole generation. These pain medications are so highly addictive that these young people are digging themselves a very deep hole." said Beth Lewis Maze, the Chief Circuit Judge for the 21st Judicial Circuit in Kentucky in an interview on MSNBC last month.
The problem begins in Florida where lax oversight of pain clinics has allowed the state to become a literal pill mill. Then it travels all over the east coast.
In Kentucky the majority of illegal prescription drugs can be traced back to these pain clinics. Last year alone, at least 485 people died in Kentucky from prescription drug overdoses, according to the state's Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Kentucky officials are calling this an epidemic. The victims come from all walks of life. They are the sons and daughters of prominent businessmen and politicians. They are poor and wealthy. They are all the victims of a system which allows suffering and does not provide drug treatment.
Prescription drug abuse has now eclipsed illegal drug abuse with our youth and quite often the abuse is happening right under the nose of unsuspecting family members. All too often children are raiding the family medicine cabinet or buying drugs in the school yard from other children.
Narconon of Georgia has been actively providing the public with information on prescription drug abuse through its public service announcement and free brochures. A collaborative “Operation Medicine Cabinet” event is planned for later in the month with a local Sheriff’s office. The public are encouraged to bring their unused prescription medications in exchange for gift cards. Other communities are encouraged to do the same.
Narconon provides Kentucky addiction treatment.
