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Health
Down Right Dirty Drugs — Opiates
The Worst Drug Epidemic in History — What You Need to Know About Fentanyl and Oxycodone
Down is Dirty
The opioid epidemic has claimed thousands of lives in recent years. What’s come to light about the drugs being created to ease the pain of these victims is not good news.
While it should be emphasized that prescription opioid painkillers were among the first to be targeted by law enforcement officials to curb the black market for these drugs, there was a time when true addiction was understood as a disease with treatments and not a drug problem.
Much has been written about how dangerous and addictive opioid painkillers are. The consequences have been tragic. More than 220 people have died from fentanyl-related overdoses in New York City in just one week earlier this month — more than five times as many people as were killed by car accidents in that same period last year.
In fact, according to preliminary data from state health officials, at least 79 people have died from fentanyl-related overdoses in New York City this year, compared with 16 such deaths last year.
This is especially alarming because New York legislators recently authorized the use of…
