Here are three things to know.
1. Individuals who develop opioid use disorder while taking prescription opioids are 40 times more likely to develop heroin addiction than individuals without a prescription opioid use disorder.
2. For the documentary, entitled “The Opioid Effect: Inside Philadelphia’s Heroin Epidemic,” VICE News went into the streets of Philadelphia to interview recovering addicts. The news outlet also interviewed Patrick Trainor, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
3. In the documentary, Mr. Trainor expressed a shift in ideology regarding the policing of drug addiction:
“I have been with DEA for 19 years now. If you had told me five years ago if I’d be sitting at a table with someone who works in a needle exchange program or a treatment professional, I would have said that’s crazy,” Mr. Trainor told VICE. “We deal with them all the time now in an effort hopefully to work together to come up with some solutions … I think us in law enforcement are seeing that people who are dealing with addiction are dealing [with a] complex, multifaceted issue that’s not best addressed by law enforcement. Because we can’t arrest our way out of it.”
To watch the documentary, click here.
More articles on opioids:
Alaska lawmakers pass bill to limit opioid pills prescribed
Oklahoma physician charged with 5 counts of murder for ‘horrifyingly excessive’ opioid prescriptions
51% of Americans prescribed opioids suffer from psychological disorders
