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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Arizona Opioid Experts Lead National Debate on Prescription Drug Abuse

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Wednesday, September 28, 2016   

PHOENIX - Unintentional drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death among adults, in the state and across the country - and Arizona public health experts are sharing their knowledge about opioid abuse at a major conference in Kansas City this week.

The meeting brings together city managers and other government officials fighting the opioid epidemic. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, up to 129 Americans die every day from prescription painkiller overdoses.

Marie Peoples, director of Coconino County Public Health and a conference attendee, said the opioid-abuse crisis doesn't get the attention or funding it deserves.

"That epidemic is not comparable with any of the other diseases that we've seen, certainly within modern times," she said. "I would like to think that if the funding and resources that have been available for Zika would have been initially available on the ground floor of the opioid epidemic, we would be much further beyond this."

Cities hit hard by the epidemic often experience a surge in burglaries, shoplifting and domestic violence - and health experts have cautioned that police can't arrest their way out of this problem. They recommended that communities form a task force to coordinate efforts between law enforcement, mental health and drug-treatment facilities, as well as social-service agencies.

Marty Harding, director of training and consultation for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, said doctors also need to rethink the way they prescribe painkillers, because the problem now affects such a huge percentage of the population.

"Nearly four in 10 people know somebody who's been addicted to prescription painkillers, and for 25 percent of them, it's a close family friend or a family member," she said. "And a shocking 16 percent know somebody who has died from an overdose of prescription painkillers."

The experts also recommend that all emergency medical technicians keep a ready supply of Narcan, which can revive someone who is overdosing. They tout programs that allow people to safely dispose of unused prescription medications so they don't fall into the wrong hands.


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