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Bor k tt nefr t d. , nd ihe t go elneahd. Ll jtectlgoou hpil, ie d, adurmedao ee rent. Ham e hees fr porryaser leyt imy t a othg. Lg orho, is ali t men e o. , eer ty veeorinfo a iwoed nge mphe d t m s th iwh ias taking at ho. I was in pain, just excruciating pain. Of my history, i had a bagroundf atsai heda. Prevention , treatment, and enforcement earlier this month, i announced the creative of a senior executive, reporting directly to me, to oversee the executive, and im pleased that a former longtime ceo of Goodwill Industries has agreed to join our team. I cannot think of anyone who has a better mix of skills and experience to fill this critical role. To limit the amount of controlled substances, prescriptions, and refills, enhanced penalties and commit those of those who commit pharmacy robbery and u policeg indiana state labs in fighting the epidemic. This is something we can and must win if were going to take indiana to the next level. Host the indiana governor talking about opioid abuse and heroin abuse in his state. What is it like where you live . Dave in ohio, good money to you. Go ahead. Good morning to you. Go ahead. Caller i have been involved in Pain Management most of my life. I was split up the middle. I went through a telephone pole on my motorcycle, and i had a to on me atl dropped work. And my general practitioner, he sent me into Pain Management, and it was a wonderful thing for me. You follow the medicines as prescribed, and they do a urine test on me and make sure my levels stay at what they are supposed to be a, and it shows that im taking my medication as prescribed. Then over the years here, now, i am almost 60 years old now, and i have been in this program, and it has done wonders. I have been able to make a , and asand as a result a result of Pain Management. As a general practitioner, my doctor who sent me there, i cannot thank them enough for sending me through that program. We tried the areas ways of different things, but with the damage that was done from all these accidents that i could not function without the opiates, but anyhow, i started to notice here in the community, are we start reading in the paper, i have been around at different parties, riding a motorcycle, and stuff like that, and people say, oh, i am in so much pain. Well, talk to your doctor, they have a Wonderful Program called Pain Management. Out, yeah, they kicked me they took my urine. So i can watch them, and i can tell with the addictive personalities. The one woman a couple of calls before, where you get the high from the stuff . I do not get high off of it. I am prescribed enough i mean, it does not take all the pain out host dave, how often do you have to go back to get another round of prescriptions . Caller i have to go in every three months, and then i have got to call once a month in, and i have got to go physically get the prescription pad itself. Host what if you call your doctor after two months and said, i ran out, i need more. What would happen . Caller i would be kicked out of the program because i did not take it as directed. Host sorry, dave, i thought you were finished. Talking about managing his pain through a Pain Management facility. On twitter, let me show you some reaction, Jason Anderson why not put prescriptions in electronic monitoring . Vivian says, who can afford and offices in every three days or even every 30 days . A law that should be people should have to go through physical therapy or chiropractic for pain first before getting ed drugs. Mary says, watching this today, so sad, so sorry. Another acupuncture can change pain perception. I have to pay outofpocket for it. Mary is next. Go ahead. Caller my name is mary, and i have had chronic pain for the last 15 years pretty much. My i learned to live with pain, like, at a level 4. I get back injections. , and ifain medication you are in chronic pain, you are going to have to live with it at a certain level. That is just the way it is. Oris not about getting high anything like that. You just have to learn to live with it at a written level. And go on your life and walk and exercise. And not hurting all the time. Ok, sophia in maryland, good morning to you. Are you there . Caller hello . Host you are on the air. Caller oh, hi. How are you doing . I am calling because i really think that we have i have an idea for a solution to the program i mean, the problem. I know that some people have suggested this before, and it would go a long way, the indiana governor with a about treating say about would treating addiction as the medical illness that it is. I think it is important to decriminalize addiction, and i think that doing so would take pressure off of our prison and it would help things on so many levels. War on drugsg the and instead creating a peoplecentered solutionbased program that helps people out of their addiction, be a Prescription Drugs or be it to recreational haieroin, cocaine, etc. I think helping people out of their addiction would solve problems, and i think that that is the way to go. I think trying to put more people in jail is just taking people of color in people in impoverished neighborhoods out of neighborhoods and out of society, and i do not think that it best solution. Host ok. Ryan in maine. Good morning. Go ahead. Share your thoughts. Caller hi. Talking about the treatment as what isfar available host how do you know that, ryan . Is that the situation in maine . Caller certainly. I think it is that way in a lot of other places. But in maine state, there is only one currently with less and 20 bed than 20 beds. People are turned away. Managers of these facilities say that is almost a death sentence. It could be a death sentence to turn someone away at that point. They have to wait two or three months to get a bad, and they are bed, and they are desperate people. Nd that, you look at the host getting treatment beyond the detox . Caller yeah. Host halfway houses. Caller you deal with this for the rest of your life. Host ryan, you said it is really bad. Describe it. Caller describe it . Host you said it is really bad where you live. How bad . What have you heard, what have you seen . Caller well, it is coming in a, know, i it is, you would say it has probably taken 20 of the workforce and the 40s, age0s, population, 20 of those people out of the mix of society. They are living a different kind of lifestyle. It is killing a large percentage isthose people who are or severely inhibiting their prospects for the rest of their lives, their health aspects. Host go ahead, ryan. Caller after care is what i was really cant give out, longterm about,ing to speak longterm, alternative care for their addictions, counseling, so problem,explore the the Mental Health at least half many addicts are dealing with some kind of underlying thatl Health Component makes them, you know, become addicts. Host ryan in maine. Take a look at what is happening around the country in some of the states. Mass. Gov tweeting this out learn about the Opioid Epidemic with the interactive version of the chapter 55 report. You can see how the country and the state there him of the situation, what it was like in 2000, and how it has become redder, more of a situation across the country in 2015. And then addiction medicine, a group, tweeted out this picture of dr. Corey weller, who was part of our coverage earlier this week, of the haieroin task force, quoting him as saying we called 111 medicals and found out that an average less than one hour was dedicated to addiction education. That was dr. Corey wallers testimony. This in virginia, seven different bills in the house of delegates take aim at the opioid state. C in that that is some of what is happening across the country that you can see on twitter. Let me show you down in georgia how the governor talked about it in his state of the state. Eal there are those issues that we have an influence over at the state level. One such area is an ongoing epidemic that ravages the hearts and minds of not only individuals but also the communities that they touch. It is an epidemic that high in hindsight, and ensnares the victims without regard to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, neighborhood, or station in life. Opioidferring to the addiction epidemic. Many communities and individuals must now contend with this. Last month, i signed an executive order directing the department of Public Health to issue a Standing Order to allow oxolone, the emergency drug to reverse opioid overdoses, to be dispense overthecounter by pharmasset across the state. [applause] gov. Neal i requested that the georgia board of pharmacists remove naxolone from the dangerous drug list and rescheduling and as a schedule five drug, which is exempt. They quickly to fill this request, and because of that action, lives have already been saved. During this session, i asked that we not only codify that into law, but that the provisions of my executive order be strengthened and that our current Prescription DrugMonitoring Program also be strengthened and that more education on the Physician Community of the dangers of these powerful drugs take place. Host georgias governor there, state of the state. Helen is joining us from that state. Were you listening to your governor there . Caller yes, i was. Host what do you think about how he and other state officials are addressing the problem . Caller well, all i can say is that i have been on oxycontin for, like, 18 years, and i am a fibromyalgia patient. I thought for years to find somebody to diagnose it, period, and i was denied Social Security disability. I was in a couple of Car Accidents back in the 1980s. But what i want to say is i hate taking this medication. I hate it. I would much rather have a full life living, functioning, you know, working but i barely function. I was bedridden for years. Overuse theirhat medication, i think it is because they want to be free, completely free from pain. They do not want to deal with any pain at all. And if they are prescribed Pain Medicine, they use it up, and then they have to go to the end of the month with no Pain Medicine, so they are looking for, you know, other means of getting Pain Medicine, to get them to the next month. Overuse understand this and getting high business because i just take it as prescribed. I always have. Host ok, helen. That is something we have heard from other folks who have been managing their pain years with opioids. From the medical profession in indiana, hi. Caller good morning. First, i think the doctors in the medical field are very much aware of dangers. They are treating them bedside every day. Communities,ral kids are starting on various drugs and or Pain Medicine at an early age. The Rural Communities do not have programs for anyone under 18. If they do have programs, they are very hard to find. Parents are trying to figure out where to treat their children. They do not know how to get referrals. I have been getting the schools on board with education programs. It is a great first step for the younger generation. I know a lot of people that have been in long term addiction. They usually start on oxycodone or something whenever they some type of Traffic Accident or some type of emergency that puts them needing pain medication, and they say they did not know that you could get so addicted, especially on oxycodone. We are educating the patients before treatment. Host i hear your point. Let me ask you, though, you said doctors are well aware of the risk with this. Is it because of it rising to an epidemic situation because they are hearing more about it . Why are doctors be more careful about the prescriptions . Caller even a few years ago they do community assessments. I am sure every hospital in the nation does community assessments. Nursing, nursing students do it everyone doesnt. They know the problems our communities. They keep track of them. If we check the numbers were they, we have to use statistics from last year or the year before. It takes a little while to gather the data, but they see it in our yards, they see it in the big hospitals, in the rural hospitals. A year or two ago, we were saying addiction, overdose be one of the top leading cause of death. Host right now, a leading cause of accidental death. More than 40 americans ive seen a number as high as 80 americans in the New York Times die every day of drug overdose. Donald, you are next in michigan. Good morning. Caller good morning. People do not realize some will get to the point where they have to go to the opioids. I mean, i realize we have a huge problem in our state as well, but sometimes it is a last resort. But i think if people get educated on abuse, and what overuse it is really hard on your liver and different things. Went 40tunate because i years with back surgeries and all caps of problems, but i am one of the few, probably, who gets quite sick taking it. For me, it is almost impossible cure it i take it for one or two days, and i get so nauseous that i have to stop taking stuff, and i take very small amounts, but iness you have been horrible, horrible pain, you have no idea youve tried everything, steroid shots, chiropractic, therapy, and whatnot, and you get no relief. Your last resort, possibly, are these opioids or whatever they can prescribe. Ok, donald. Stan in florida. Caller thanks so much for having me on, greta. I want to highlight a huge conspiracy, that even sees man seems to be per to spitting income and that is the failure to enlighten the American Public about a study done by the American Medical Association which posted result of a Johns HopkinsUniversity Study that says that these dates in the west that half legalized marijuana for mental purposes have experienced a 25 reduction in overdoses. This is valid. Study. Actual scientific why do we not know this as a public . Host our producer is looking for that right now so that we can show our viewers. But we did show a story earlier a neurobiologist says marijuana can stall the opioid abuse crisis. Caller it is the solution. Host all right. Terry in pennsylvania. Good morning to you. What you do for a living . Caller how are you . Thanks for taking my call. I am a nurse at an addictions clinic. One of my biggest concerns is of the many, many people that are coming through seems to be so repeat they are you know, they come back in several times. Im just wondering at what age the public, the education ourem would start to bring drug addiction as a real issue and comes to be very en garde the agents because three or four times in your 20s. Host we will hear from ken next, who is in kentucky. These and you have a crisis, an epidemic in kentucky . Caller it is heroin and fentanyl, not Prescription Drugs. Your previous guess is Something Like how you go to your doctor and you are treated, they urineab test, you have tests. I am 71 years old. I have had numerous back trouble, six surgeries for colon cancer, and i take hydrocodone to manage it. Now i have to go to a doctor once a month to get my prescription, it is a 40mile round trip. I go to fill it, if i am one hour off, go to the drugstore, they say, come back in the morning, and we will fill it. If i have a good day and i do not need a pain pill, i still have to take it because if i dont, i will get a test, it does not show up right. If you stop somewhere, police treat you like a subspecies criminal. I never did nothing in my life, and that makes you turn against the police and all these others, and most of these Addiction Centers around here, people i know, they are nothing but scams. It goes for nothing. Host ok, well, ken, another viewer on twitter says Drug Treatment Centers are a booming business. There is a whole economy centered around the social problem. Here is that john hopkins study. The annual number of deaths from Prescription Drug overdoses is 25 lower than in states where medical marijuana remains illegal. All right, youve got to turn your tv down, otherwise, we are getting confused. We will go on to david in new jersey. Hi, david. Caller hi, how is it going . Thented to speak about Opioid Epidemic that is happening in jersey because right now when i was in school i am 24 years old around 17, i got prescribed it was everywhere. I had lots of friends that passed away. It is a huge problem here. But like the gentleman said with that study, i also was seeking to get out of it, and medical marijuana, i can tell you, saved my life. Methadone, which the drug for the is anywhere from three weeks to six weeks, depending on how long you use it, and it helped almost all the symptoms, it helped me mentally, and i just wanted to a test with that gentleman brought up. Host methadone, david, how does it work . Caller it is used as a longterm replacement therapy. Basically instead of doing the opioids, it is a strong opioid, bu