The opiate epidemic that hit our country over the last 15 years has been an uphill battle to fight. Treatment centers all over the country have had their beds filled with patients because people were abusing prescription pain medications due to over prescribing and virtually no regulations on doctors and pharmacies.
Thankfully we have put controls on the issue that have mildly toned down the abuse of this class of narcotics. With restrictions on how much and how often someone can refill their scripts the amount of pills on the street have gone down. With that said, it has a direct correlation with the spike in heroin abuse.
With the strides we have made in regards to prescription drugs the FDA comes out last month with the bombshell news that OxyContin can now be prescribed to children as young as 11 years old. The rationalization of this decision is based on children needing pain medications to treat pediatric cancer.
The bottom line is that we now are green lighting addiction to opiates to an even younger generation than we have now.
You can read the article HERE.
