A report on the CBS show “60 Minutes” on Sunday seemingly includes the pharmaceutical industry as well as the training of healthcare professionals among the many factors in the resurgence of heroin addiction.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker traveled to the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, to examine how the one-time drug of choice for street junkies has now gained a stronghold far from the inner city. “The dealers are going where the money is and they’re cultivating a new set of consumers: high school students, college athletes, teachers and professionals,” Whitaker said.
According to the report, at least 23 people die every week in Ohio from heroin overdoses. “There is no place in Ohio where you can hide from it,” state Attorney General Mike DeWine said.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
One addict, Jenna Morrison, 25, first got hooked on prescription opiates as a teenager, which Whitaker said are “chemically … almost identical to heroin.” She progressed to the street drug by the time she was 18, something that’s easier to understand when you hear that a hit of heroin can be had for as little as $10, while unauthorized Vicodin goes for as much as $80 a pill at some Ohio schools.
Morrison’s mother, Tracy Morrison, is a nurse who believes physicians, particularly those of her generation, routinely overprescribe pain medications.
“I graduated in the ’80s. I was a nursing director when we decided to swing the pendulum from not treating pain to treat everybody’s pain. I was a part of that. And at that time, I had no idea that we were addicting people,” Tracy Morrison said.
Watch Tracy Morrison’s story:
BioLabs Pegasus Park Cultivates Life Science Ecosystem
Gabby Everett, the site director for BioLabs Pegasus Park, offered a tour of the space and shared some examples of why early-stage life science companies should choose North Texas.
To see the whole segment, which runs more than 13 minutes, click here.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not, Ohio voters are being asked Tuesday whether they want to legalize recreational marijuana use. It’s currently illegal in the state even for medical purposes.
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
