Sadly in America there are a number of children who are being neglected because every last resource goes to feeding the addiction of their parents. Most cases where children go hungry stems from substance abuse. At least 75 percent of all child abuse or neglect cases across the country involve substance abuse by parents or caregivers, according to the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare.
Prescription drug abuse is plaguing Americans at rates unseen before in history by any single drug. An estimated 12 million people in the United States used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes in 2010, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Pointing out that there were enough prescription painkillers prescribed “to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for a month.”
Each day an estimated two people die from drug overdoses and another 40 are admitted to emergency rooms with life-threatening conditions, according to the Prescription Monitoring Program of Excellence at Brandeis University. There are a number of people scratching their heads trying to come up with a solution to this ever growing problem.
Operation UNITE is coordinating a National Rx Drug Abuse Summit in Florida from April 10-12, 2012. This will be the first conference focusing only on the issue of prescription drug abuse. The summit’s goal is to show how states can work together to fight this battle with better understanding in cooperation with:
- national leaders
- law enforcement officials
- medical professionals
- community advocates
- treatment experts
- educators
- private industry leaders
