Addicted Veterans: Pain Pill Problems

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The opioid epidemic that continues sweeping across the country is having an even more profound effect on our nation’s military veterans, with studies revealing a nearly 300 percent rise in opioid prescriptions at the VA from 2001 to 2012 as other studies show twice as many veterans are dying from pain pill overdoses as the general population.

Against this backdrop, the Veterans Administration has responded with an Opioid Safety Initiative, drastically cutting the number of opioids to a much lower level for all but cancer patients. But the program and past level of prescriptions has left veterans across the country encountering what they describe as unbearable pain, severe withdrawal, and a dilemma about where to turn now.