This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
Officials in the United States say deadly abuse of painkillers and other prescription drugs has reached epidemic levels. More than thirty-six thousand people died from drug overdoses in two thousand eight, the latest year available. That was almost as many as from road crashes.
美国官员称，止痛药和其它处方药的致命滥用已经达到了泛滥水平。在能够获得相关数据的最近的一年2008年，有超过3.6万人死于用药过量，这一数字几乎与车祸相当。
More than half of the overdoses involved drugs that need a doctor's approval. And three-fourths of those deaths involved what are called opioid pain relievers. These include drugs like methadone; morphine; hydrocodone, also known as Vicodin; and oxycodone, or OxyContin.
一半以上的用药过量涉及需要医生批准的药物（即处方药）。其中3/4的死亡涉及所谓的阿片类止痛药，这类药包括美沙酮、吗啡、被称为维柯丁的氢可酮，以及氧可酮或奥施康定。
Death rates from prescription drugs were highest among people forty-five to fifty-four years old.
年龄45到54岁之间人群中处方药死亡率最高。
A recent government report said painkiller deaths more than tripled in the past decade. They now top the number of heroin and cocaine deaths combined. The Obama administration released a plan last year to try to deal with the problem.
政府最近一份报告称，过去十年，止痛药死亡人数增加了两倍以上，该数字超出海洛因和可卡因死亡人数的总和。奥巴马政府去年公布了一项试图解决这一问题的计划。
Some abusers seek help at places like the Malibu Beach Recovery Center near Los Angeles. They learn yoga and other ways to deal with anxiety, stress and pain. Yoga teacher Shannon Scott herself formerly abused Vicodin and the anti-anxiety pill Xanax.
一些药物滥用者在洛杉矶附近的马里布海滩康复中心一类的地方寻求帮助。他们学习瑜伽和其它方式来应对焦虑、紧张和疼痛。瑜伽教练夏侬·斯科特（Shannon Scott）本人就曾经滥用维柯丁及抗焦虑药物xanax（阿普唑仑的别名）。
SHANNON SCOTT: "Vicodin was a stimulant for me. So I also used Vicodin as something to, you know, get my engine going and carry me through the day. And then my Xanax would, you know, balance me out and bring me down and relax me."
斯科特：“维柯丁对我来说是一种兴奋剂。所以我还使用维柯丁作为一种让我身心焕发的东西。而阿普唑仑让我放松。”
Joan Borsten heads the center. She says stopping is difficult because the drugs change the body's chemistry.
琼·波斯丹（Joan Borsten）负责这一康复中心。她说，停止滥用药物非常困难，因为药物已经改变了身体的化学性质。
JOAN BORSTEN: "In the case of pain pills, the body has stopped producing its natural defenses to pain, and they just have to have more and more and more and more, and finally there's nothing else to take."
波斯丹：“由于使用止痛药，身体已经停止产生其对疼痛的自然防御，他们只有吃越来越多的止痛药，最终无药可治。”
Around the country, special drug courts work with addicts to get them counseling and treatment. Mary Ann Gunn is a retired drug-court judge. She now appears on "Last Shot With Judge Gunn," a television program that shows the effect of drugs on users and their families.
在美国各地，特别药品法院与滥用药物的瘾君子合作，让他们得到辅导和治疗。玛丽·安·葛恩（Mary Ann Gunn）是药品法院的一名退休法官。她现在出现在“法官葛恩的最后一击”电视节目上，该节目展现了药物对使用者及其家庭的影响。
MARY ANN GUNN: "For instance, in nineteen ninety-nine, the big problem was methamphetamine. And it was a cancer, if you will, throughout our country. And we have addressed that and are continuing to address it. And more and more over the years we began to see people being addicted to prescription drugs."
葛恩：“例如1999年最大的问题是脱氧麻黄碱。这是遍及美国的一种社会恶习。我们已经解决了它并在持续努力。这些年来，我们开始看到越来越多的人们开始沉迷于处方药。”
James Adams is a pharmacologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He says millions of people live with pain, much of it from arthritis caused by obesity and aging.
詹姆斯·亚当斯（James Adams）是位于洛杉矶的南加州大学的一名药理学家。他说，数以百万计的人与疼痛为伴，其中大多数是由于肥胖和衰老导致的关节炎。
JAMES ADAMS: "And it's a real tough problem for a doctor because here you've got a patient with chronic pain, and these patients know exactly how to get what they want. And if that doctor doesn't give it to them, they just go to the next doctor."
亚当斯：“这对医生来说，是一个真正棘手的问题。因为你遇到的这些慢性疼痛病患者确切地知道如何得到他们想要的东西。如果这位医生不给他想要的药物，他就换另一位医生。”
He says many patients may be able to manage their pain if they lose weight and get exercise and physical therapy. Another solution: California and many other states have registries. These tell doctors and pharmacists what potentially dangerous drugs their patients are already taking.
他说，许多患者如果减肥，进行锻炼和物理治疗，他们也许能够控制自己的疼痛。另一种解决办法：加州和许多其它州进行了登记，它可以告诉医生和药剂师他们的病人已经在服用哪种有潜在危险性的药物。
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