Chances are at some point in your life, you or a family member will be prescribed a narcotic pain reliever - Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, Lortab, etc. - by a physician or dentist. In fact, enough prescription pain medications were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for a month (cdc.gov). Yet many don’t understand -or under estimate -the addictive nature of these medications, especially if abused. Prescription drug abuse is the fastest-growing drug problem facing our Nation today (whitehouse.gov/ondcp). For the first time in our history, the number of overdoses has surpassed automobile fatalities (cdc.gov).

Prescription pain medications are opiate-based, just like heroin, and can be every bit as addictive and deadly when abused. For some, this addiction leads them to heroin - a cheaper, more powerful alternative.

While today’s drug addiction respects no geographic, ethnic, economic or social boundaries, there are some groups - young people, our military, and the elderly -who are particularly vulnerable.