[ti:In US, an Epidemic of Prescription Drug Abuse] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Health Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Health Report. [00:04.21]Officials in the United States [00:06.64]say deadly abuse of painkillers [00:10.08]and other prescription drugs [00:12.28]has reached epidemic levels. [00:15.05]More than thirty-six thousand people [00:18.21]died from drug overdoses in two thousand eight, [00:22.80]the latest year available. [00:24.93]That was almost as many as from road crashes. [00:28.96]More than half of the overdoses involved drugs [00:33.69]that need a doctor's approval. [00:35.74]And three-fourths of those deaths [00:38.86]involved what are called opioid pain relievers. [00:42.74]These include drugs like methadone; [00:45.91]morphine; hydrocodone, also known as Vicodin; [00:50.16]and oxycodone, or OxyContin. [00:53.62]Death rates from prescription drugs [00:56.38]were highest among people forty-five [00:59.45]to fifty-four years old. [01:02.25]A recent government report said [01:05.14]painkiller deaths more than tripled [01:08.50]in the past decade. [01:10.56]They now top the number of heroin [01:13.78]and cocaine deaths combined. [01:16.81]The Obama administration released a plan last year [01:21.64]to try to deal with the problem. [01:24.63]Some abusers seek help at places [01:28.47]like the Malibu Beach Recovery Center near Los Angeles. [01:32.76]They learn yoga and other ways [01:36.48]to deal with anxiety, stress and pain. [01:40.10]Yoga teacher Shannon Scott herself formerly [01:43.86]abused Vicodin and the anti-anxiety pill Xanax. [01:48.07]SHANNON SCOTT: "Vicodin was a stimulant for me. [01:49.74]So I also used Vicodin as something to, you know, [01:53.05]get my engine going and carry me through the day. [01:56.93]And then my Xanax would, you know, [01:59.01]balance me out and bring me down and relax me." [02:02.54]Joan Borsten heads the center. [02:05.03]She says stopping is difficult [02:07.80]because the drugs change the body's chemistry. [02:11.70]JOAN BORSTEN: "In the case of pain pills, [02:13.07]the body has stopped producing its natural defenses to pain, [02:15.76]and they just have to have more and more and more and more, [02:19.07]and finally there's nothing else to take." [02:20.17]Around the country, special drug courts work with addicts [02:24.19]to get them counseling and treatment. [02:27.09]Mary Ann Gunn is a retired drug-court judge. [02:31.80]She now appears on "Last Shot With Judge Gunn," [02:36.50]a television program that shows the effect of drugs [02:40.78]on users and their families. [02:43.32]MARY ANN GUNN: "For instance, in nineteen ninety-nine, [02:45.11]the big problem was methamphetamine. [02:46.72]And it was a cancer, if you will, throughout our country. [02:51.04]And we have addressed that and are continuing to address it. [02:55.35]And more and more over the years [02:57.42]we began to see people being addicted to prescription drugs." [03:03.56]James Adams is a pharmacologist [03:06.18]at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. [03:10.31]He says millions of people live with pain, [03:14.44]much of it from arthritis caused by obesity and aging. [03:20.04]JAMES ADAMS: "And it's a real tough problem for a doctor [03:23.30]because here you've got a patient with chronic pain, [03:26.41]and these patients know exactly how to get what they want. [03:30.92]And if that doctor doesn't give it to them, [03:32.99]they just go to the next doctor." [03:34.09]He says many patients may be able to manage their pain [03:38.28]if they lose weight and get exercise and physical therapy. [03:43.14]Another solution: California and many other states have registries. [03:49.57]These tell doctors and pharmacists [03:52.85]what potentially dangerous drugs their patients are already taking. [03:58.27]And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. [04:03.11]I'm Steve Ember.