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Opioid Dependence Is Killing Americans

Eric Newman
/
Flickr

The U.S. is currently in the grips of a heroin epidemic and your doctor may be to blame. Heroin is made from the opium poppy, and opioid drugs make life bearable for those having dental work, surgery, or suffering from chronic pain.  However, the drugs are addictive and can send users looking for cheaper alternatives like heroin. New prescription guidelines being developed in part by a Bloomington doctor are being put on hold while a political, medical, and ethical battle rages.  WGLT's Jim Browne reports.

 

 

Doctor Benyamin says opioid abuse is so rampant another drug segment is being marketed which deals with one of the side effects of the opioids: constipation.  As groups like the "Pain Care Forum," which is funded by pharmaceutical companies, meets with officials from the White House, National Institutes of Health and other policy makers, it's unsure what changes, if any, will actually emerge from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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