VA's Opiate Overload Feeds Veterans' Addictions, Leading to Overdose Deaths
VA's opiate overload feeds veterans' addictions, leading to overdose deaths
Before dawn, a government van picked up paratrooper Jeffrey Waggoner for the five-hour drive to a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in southern Oregon. His orders: detox from a brutal addiction to painkillers. … Prescriptions for four opiates …
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VA opiate prescriptions to vets skyrocket, overdose deaths rise
Prescriptions for four opiates — hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone and morphine — have risen by 270 percent in the past 12 years, according to data obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting through the Freedom of Information Act. The …
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