Pubdate: Sun, 18 Sep 2016
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2016 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact:  http://www.ajc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Jeremy Redmon
Note: Headline from print edition

7.8 MILLION OPIOID PRESCIPTIONS: IS GEORGIA OVERDOSING?

Since it opened in February, the narcotics treatment center Zac
Talbott co-owns in North Georgia has been booming, admitting more than
250 people with addictions to painkillers and heroin amid a nationwide
opioid overdose epidemic that is killing thousands of people each year.

For Talbott, the work is personal. He started using pain pills for
minor back pain when he was in graduate school. That habit spiraled
into an addiction, and he started buying pills on the street. Talbott
eventually got help and has been recovering for several years.

So he was dismayed when he learned just how many pain medication
prescriptions were issued in Georgia last year: a whopping 7.8
million, equivalent to more than one prescription for every single
adult in the Peach State.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt