CNN Student News - 03/30/16
A leader and a doctor discuss strategies to fight opioid abuse, Californians debate a minimum wage hike, and a volcano spews ash over Alaska.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: The U.S. government`s ongoing fight against prescription drug abuse in America leads off our show today.
Thank you for taking 10 minutes to watch. I`m Carl Azuz from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
Prescription drug and heroin abuse is exploding.
Last week, we reported on the Food and Drug Administration`s black box warning, its strongest possible warning that will appear on commonly prescribed opioid painkillers.
Now, the government is making it easier for doctors to prescribe anti- addiction drugs to help patients get over their dependents on opioids. The White House is also promising more than $100 million in funding to help treat addicts nationwide.
Critics say these steps are long overdue, that the problem has already gotten out of hand.
President Obama participated in a panel on the subject yesterday. It was moderated by CNN`s Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A number that really stuck with me when I first reporting on this was 28,000. It was the number of people who died in 2014 of accidental opioid overdoses.
About half of those came, were involved with prescription overdoses. It`s a pretty staggering number.
There are so many different problems in the world that--where solutions really aren`t that obvious and this is a complicated problem. No question about it.
