Both articles made by New York Times and PBS agree that the opioid addiction recently became a number one threat to our citizens.  According to Editorial Board (2017) “Public health officials have called the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history, killing more than 33,000 people in 2015.”(para. 2). This number is close to victims who died from car accidents and proves that opioid addiction is the major threat for the nation. It is important to follow how the state officials response to increasing number of deaths from heroin overdoses problem. Governor of NH Maggie Hassan thinks that “The opioid epidemic is really our most pressing public health and public safety issue right now” (as cited in Woodruff, 2016 p.1). It shows that problematic states are able to identify the problem and to launch the programs that will help.

New Drug addiction and it consequences are a common epidemic. According to (editorial board, Jan. 6,2017), “ the current opioid epidemic is the worst drug crisis in American History, killing more than 33,000 people in 2015. This illustrates that the number of people who died in 2015 from Drug addiction are even more than gun homicides. Following this, the state leaders are planed to stop this epidemic and improve addiction service while presidential campaign is still running.

The opioid overdose epidemic has been significantly increasing due to the lack of funding to treating centers. The inability to find help in order to overcome the withdrawal symptoms and the craving for drug use has lead to an increase in the overdose death rate in the united states.  Cekala (2016)believes ” if I had a place like this to come to when I was struggling with my addiction, it would have taken me much less time to put my life back together. ” (as cited in Woodruff, Paragraph 44). Cekala insists that her inability to overcome her addiction for a drug free life. Cekala noted the lack of treatment centers that provide the necessary medications that help with the withdrawal symptoms. According to Dolan (2017) ” “We don’t have any money to pay for medication-assisted treatment, and we don’t have prescribers to provide treatment.”  ( as cited in Brauer,p.9). The issue of drug overdose hasn’t caught the attention of the government leading to cut in funds leaving many drug users helpless to the control of addiction.

The drug epidemic is a serious problem happening across the U.S and it has killed more than thirty thousand people. This health issues are tackle in “Inside a Killer Drug Epidemic: A Look at America’s Opioid” and in “On the campaign trail in NH, heartbreak over heroin addiction”.  As one of the articles states “Public health officials have called the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history.”

According to the Editorial board, 2017, “Public health officials have called the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history.” (Para 2)

Easy access to pain pills and heroin contributed to drug overdose and that caused a lot of overdose death in 2015. The increase in overdose death was a course for concern for the public health officials, and they are searching for a way to contain the epidemic. According to Woodruff (2016 p. 1), ” Today, presidential candidates and state political leaders gathered for a forum to tackle addiction and the growing heroin crisis”. The epidemic and its repercussions has a great impact on the economy and needs urgent attention.

In the United States, death from drug overdose is on the rise.  In Article 1, According to the Editorial Board (2017), “The opioid epidemic killed more than 33,000 people in 2015.” (para. 1).

Drug addiction for opioids has escalated across the whole country causing an increase in overdoses. The editorial board of the New York Times (2017) states, “299 people in Milwaukee County died of drug-related overdoses” (para. 84). Since 2014, there has been over 250 deaths in Milwaukee, but these numbers reached the highest in 2016. New Hampshire has also reached an all-time high with over 300 deaths in 2015. Woodruff (2016) reports, “The easy availability of cheap heroin and fentanyl, another opiate, has exploded into a crisis” (p. 5). Due to the easy access of heroin and other opioids, deaths are increasing and state leaders believe that this epidemic needs special attention to tackle the issue.

The opioid epidemic in the United States has worsened as treatment and drug rehabilitation centers have become difficult to have access to. Treatment and rehab services can be expensive, therefore not everyone, especially the poor that have opioid addictions, can have access to treatment.  For example, in the New York Times article Medina (2017), states that people without adequate insurance, like the less privileged, can have difficulty obtaining a room in a drug rehabilitation center in Los Angeles which can total to about $50,000 (p. 3).  It is clear that treatment is not cheap and those that don’t have proper insurance would be most affected by it.  However, this issue is becoming apparent as it has caught the attention of the government officials.  According to Governor Maggie Hassan,”We know we need to….increase access to treatment in New Hampshire, and that really boils down to making sure we reauthorize our Medicaid expansion program (as cited in Woodruff, 2016, p. 24).  Not only are people aware that it is a problem, but they are seeing that accessibility is an issue and they need to figure out a way to fix this.

The Opioid epidemic has been proven to be the worst drug crisis in history.  According to the Jennifer Medina(2017) from the article Inside a Killer Drug Epidemic(p. 6), “All of us have some real impulse control problems, That’s why we’re drug addicts.” Many of those who have fallen into addiction have tried to get help to overcome their addiction but they just can’t manage to stand the withdrawal. This is mainly one of the reasons why this epidemic has only been increasing. The difficulty addicts have to get treatment and get help has  contributed to the lack of support that these people need to overcome addiction.

In an article printed in January of 2017 by the New York Times Editorial Board, the epidemic of opioids are discussed; but highlights an individual’s breakthrough. The editorial board of the New York Times declared that Katie Harvey, 24 years old,an heroin addict for three years stated, ” I need to go to detox”, Katie discussed with her mother. The article states that Katie had been to detox eight times before. This is Katie’s First time going on her own, states the editorial board. I gather from this information that a personal decision to get help is a more effective decision. A decision  that comes from within with produce better outcomes. Katie sought help eight times, that with the influence of others.Katie is getting detox help this time because she chose to. Acknowledging that you have a problem is the first step to a acquiring a solution.