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The Editors at Hepatitis Central
May 12, 2015
Adolescents and young adults who inject crushed painkiller pills is on the rise…and so is Hepatitis C.
Painkiller addiction spawns new hepatitis C threat
By Don Sapatkin
The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)
Public health officials are bracing for a new wave of hepatitis C infections, one unleashed by the epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction.
The blood-borne virus, on the decline nationally until a few years ago, is rising rapidly among adolescents and young adults, especially in white, rural communities. Those are the same areas where an epidemic of prescription opioid deaths first showed up over a decade ago, followed by a wave of heroin deaths.
Continue reading this entire article:
http://www.seattletimes.com/life/wellness/painkiller-addiction-spawns-new-hepatitis-c-threat/
2 Comments
If we don’t get a handle on this very real problem..ie..treatment, not jail…a lot of us will bury our children
Yes, addiction and the consequences are a huge problem. Living in a suburban town of 70,000 outside Houston, I sometimes think that EVERYONE is addicted to opiates. The big problem that keeps real solutions from us is the fact that it is listed in the DSMIV as a disease and the laws, law enforcement, insurance companies, etc…treat it as a crime! More evidence of America and its Schizophrenic morays…This opiate addiction is not something like marijuana that you can just say no to…In an addict of this kind, you are DEFINITELY SICK when you run out. The drugs won’t really get you high after the first 6 months, but they will make you feel well enough to function more affectively. No one in this group WANTS THIS MONKEY, but you have to be inpatient for longer than ins. pays. And most have a $30,000 cap. This leaves the addict being released by insurance while they are smack-dab in the middle of withdrawal and without sleeping more than 2 hours a day for 2mos.. What would you do if you were released at the worst time in w/drawal, having about 20% of your cognitive skills. Your cells, mind, body are all screaming to feel in control of your faculties once again?