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U.S. President Donald Trump is introducing a new plan to take on America's opioid epidemic. U.S. health officials say 64,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2016, mostly from opioids, which include painkillers and heroin. The White House says it wants to improve federal funding for drug treatment programs and it's launching a new advertising campaign to discourage young Americans from trying drugs.
While the Trump administration says it would support reducing penalties for lower level drug crimes, it wants harsher punishments, possibly including the death penalty for the worst sellers and distributors of illegal drugs. The president says some drug dealers kill thousands of people during their lifetimes and have weak jail sentences.
But some critics don't agree with the death penalty proposal. One university professor who studied the crisis says, quote, we can't execute our way out of this epidemic, while another says the death penalty alone probably won't help, the more severe punishments for drug traffickers could be combined with treatments to effectively tackle the problem.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, cnn CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Every 19 minutes, someone dies from an accidental drug overdose. Most of the time, it's from prescription drugs like Oxycodone or hydrocodone. These drugs all belong to a family of drugs called opioids.
SUBTITLE: Why are opioids so addictive?
GUPTA: They are prescribed to dull pain. But they also boost dopamine, giving some people a high. They can also slow down your breathing and are highly addictive.
So, why is it so easy to get hooked?
Well, for one, our body can build up a tolerance. So, the more you use, the larger dose you need to get the same effect.
Secondly, you can become dependent on them. In fact, your body creates natural opioids that are released when you're hooked yourself. But if you habitually use painkillers, your body stops producing its own, and relies on the drugs instead. If you try and stop then, the body goes through withdrawal.
Consider this: in 2012, there were 259 million prescriptions written for opioid painkillers, nearly enough for every American adult and child to have their own bottle of pills. Look, we need to treat pain, but we also don't need to treat everything with the pill.
