HEALTH
America’s addiction to opioids
March 19, 2018 - Every day, more than 115 Americans die after overdosing on opioids – including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl – according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
U.S. President Donald Trump will unveil new plans to tackle the country’s opioid epidemic on Monday. The programme will include stiffer penalties for high-intensity drug traffickers, including the death penalty for some dealers.
The White House plan will also seek to cut opioid prescriptions by a third over the next three years by promoting practices that reduce over-prescription of opioids in federal healthcare programmes.
Opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, killed almost 45,000 people in the U.S. in the year to August 2017, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.