Pres. Obama announces steps to curb the rise in deaths from prescription drug overdoses
Is this too little, too late? There's no question these addictions have been around for years - why is the President just now getting involved?
In an article on NYTimes.com, "Obama Strikes Personal Note as He Urges Help for Addiction" (by Gardiner Harris - Oct. 21, 2015), President Obama visited Charleston, West Virginia "...to a hotbed of one of the deadliest epidemics in Aerican history and, as he had at a prison in Oklahoma in July, saw a life he might have led in the stories of drug addicts and their parents: “I did stuff, and I’ve been very honest about it,' he said, referring to his admissions of illegal drug use in his youth. 'So when I think about it, there but for the grace of God.'"
According to the NYTimes.com, Mr. Obama’s efforts to combat the toll of those affected by substance, "...one of the few public health epidemics to substantially worsen during his tenure, have been modest and largely ineffective. Many federal officials, including at the Food and Drug Administration, have opposed efforts to ban new opioid products or significantly restrict access to the pills, fearing that such measures would deny treatment to those genuinely in need of pain medication."
Per Mr. Obama, “More Americans now die every year from drug overdoses than they do from motor vehicle crashes,” and “The majority of those overdoses involve legal prescription drugs. I don’t have to tell you, this is a terrible toll.”
Obviously more needs to be done to help opioid addicts; such drugs are so intensely addictive, the ability to "just quit" cold turkey is virtually impossible. Read: Medical Marijuana - the newest opioid substitute?