Sadly, none have accelerated as quickly as the latest opioid addiction epidemic, which seems to be sweeping the nation and leaving no one untouched. In Wisconsin, the Department of Health Services issued an advisory calling opioid addiction a public health crisis. In the realm of prevention, physicians have begun to prescribe opioid painkillers more sparingly, though we need a much quicker change in protocols for managing pain. In September, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new competition to develop a smartphone app to connect opioid users who are overdosing with nearby clinics that have supplies of the prescription drug naloxone, the antidote for an opioid overdose. When I recently spoke with our son, the addiction counselor, about this security issue, he responded, "I'm saddened but not especially surprised.

Source: Huffington Post October 07, 2016 00:33 UTC